Govt sets up GoM on stressed power assets

The government has constituted a Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to vet the recommendations of a high-level panel on stressed power projects, as per an official order.

The panel, headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, had submitted its report last month.

"It has been decided with approval of the Prime Minister, to constitute a Group of Ministers (GOM) to examine the specific recommendations of High Level Empowered Committee constituted to address the issue of stressed power projects and forward their comments for consideration by the Cabinet," the order said.

The other members of the GOM are Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Power Minister R K Singh, the order added.

The high-level committee had suggested setting up a mechanism to allow public financial institutions (PFIs) like REC and PFC to discount receivables from distribution companies (discoms) and make upfront payments to generating companies.

The panel also recommended that the Ministry of Power may engage with the power regulators to ensure that late payment surcharge (LPS) is mandatorily paid in the event of delay in payment by discoms.

According to a report by the Department of Financial Services, as many as 34 coal-based thermal power projects, mostly private with a total capacity of 40,130 MW, were considered 'stressed' by the Ministry of Power as on March 22, 2017.