Govt To Meet Dabhol Promoters Next Week

The government will next week hold negotiations with General Electric (GE) and Bechtel, the foreign promoters of Dabhol Power Corporation (DPC), to restart generation at the power project.

"GE has asked for a meeting next week. I have received a communication to this extent," Power Secretary R V Shahi said here today.

Speaking at the sidelines of a seminar, Shahi said the power ministry would fix the meeting and take the discussions forward. Bechtel would also attend the meeting, he added.

The meeting is expected to finalise the terms of assistance for restarting power production at the 740 Mw first phase of the project.

The Maharashtra-based, naptha-fired power project has been lying idle for nearly one-and-a-half years after it ran into financial difficulties with the state electricity board over payments.

The project is promoted by bankrupt US energy major Enron, which holds 65 per cent stake, the Maharashtra State Electricity Board with 15 per cent, while GE and Bechtel hold the remaining 20 per cent.

State-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) had agreed to run the power station on behalf of the lenders after Enron stopped production in 2001. It had, however, sought technical assistance from the two minority partners.

The MSEB had earlier agreed to buy power from Dabhol at a fixed rate of Rs 2.80 per unit.

An earlier attempt at finding buyers for the power plant, for which Tata Power and BSES had shown interest, had to be abandoned.

Speaking at a seminar earlier on power development reforms, Shahi said the government would pump in Rs 2,500-3,000 crore annually over the next four to five years into the Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (APDRP).

He said while 50 per cent of the money under the programme would come from government investments, the remaining would be disbursed in the form of incentives to reduce losses and turn around the sector.

Fast-track power project schemes conceived some years ago had failed because they did not touch upon the distribution aspect, Shahi said, adding that the government had now changed track to focus on the consumer.