Centre & #39;S Fresh Offer To Solve Dpc Row

The Union government has come out with a set of proposals for solving the problems posed by the high tariffs of the Enron-promoted Dabhol Power Company (DPC), said Madhav Godbole, chairman of the committee to renegotiate a new deal with DPC.

Godbole, however, refused to spell out what these proposals were. He was speaking to newspersons after the second round of discussions with representatives of Enron and DPC.

Asked whether the company had agreed to a reduction in tariffs, Godbole said, "It is too early to talk of specifics at this stage." He added that the two sides had decided to meet again but the date had not been fixed as yet.

The second round of discussions assume importance as this was the first time that the Centre had deputed its representative A V Gokak for the meeting. Gokak said that the Centre was keen on resolving the issue and it would play an "active role" in solving the problem.

The solution should take into account the interest of all four sides, MSEB, the state government, the Union government and DPC. Well-placed sources said that Gokak had made it clear that the Centre will not buy power from the project but will function as a facilitator.

Enron India managing director K Wade Cline said, "We had a very good meeting and a variety of issues were discussed. We have not submitted any proposal. This is an ongoing process."

State energy secretary V M Lal told reporters that discussions were held on all issues that hindered the progress of the project. He refused to elaborate further saying "renegotiations cannot be conducted through the press".

The meeting was attended by the six members who constitute the Godbole panel comprising, Madhav Godbole, Sudhir Shrivastava, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, MSEB chairman Vinay Bansal, state energy secretary V M Lal and AV Gokak.

The DPC side which was led by Enron India managing director Wade Cline comprised DPC president and chief executive officer Neil McGregor; Paul Kraske, general counsel and senior DPC executives, Mukesh Tyagi, S Mohan Gurunath, and Sanjeev Khandekar.

A senior executive of Bechtel which holds a 10 per cent stake in DPC P J Nagarawala also attended the meeting.