Sasan UMPP's financial closure soon

The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani-led Reliance Power is hopeful of achieving the financial closure for the 4,000-Mw Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) in Madhya Pradesh within a fortnight.

“We expect that we will be able to tie up the entire Rs 14,500 crore debt for Sasan by the end of this month,” said Reliance Power CEO JP Chalasani.

The project requires Rs 19,000 crore. The financing is to be done on the basis of debt to equity ratio of 75:25. Reliance Power has already received loan sanction letters for Rs 12,000 crore and plans to commission the project ahead of schedule.

“We have advanced the schedule for Sasan by three years from what was mandated in the power purchase agreement. The first two units of the project will be commissioned in December 2011,” Chalasani said.

The project is being funded by 10-12 institutions led by State Bank of India. Other financers are Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation and Exim Bank.

The land for the main plant area has been acquired. The total land requirement stands at about 3,500 acres.

Chalasani was speaking on the sidelines of a ceremony held to issue the letter of intent for the Tilaiya UMPP to Reliance Power. The company had bagged the Tilaiya project last month by quoting a tariff of Rs 1.77 per unit.

The Sasan project is one of the 13 UMPPs, with a combined capacity of above 50,000 Mw, which the government plans to set up under its showcase scheme. Most of these projects are slated to be commissioned in the 12th Plan period.

The government has awarded four UMPPs to date — at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh, Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Tilaiya in Jharkhand (all three bagged by Reliance Power), and Mundra in Gujarat (bagged by Tata Power).