PowerGrid board approves Rs 1,931 cr investment in HVDC link

State-run Power Grid Corp has approved an investment of Rs 1,931.39 crore for high voltage direct current bipole link between western and southern regions.
The PowerGrid board in its meeting held yesterday approved investment for "HVDC Bipole link between Western Region (Raigarh, Chhattisgarh) and Southern Region (Pugalur, Tamil Nadu) -- North Trichur (Kerala) at an estimated cost of Rs 1,931.39 crore with commissioning schedule of 30 months from the date of approval, the company said in a BSE filing.
Besides, the board also approved raising of rupee term loan (facility) of up to Rs 3,270 crore from ICICI Bank at 3 Month MCLR of Bank (presently 7.90 p.A.) with reset every 3 months from the date of first disbursement.

The loan shall be drawn as per requirement of PowerGrid within 5 years from the date of first disbursement. First disbursement shall not be made later than August 31, 2017.
The maturity of the rupee term loan (facility) shall be not exceeding 15 years from initial disbursement date with moratorium period of 5 Years from initial drawdown date and repayment in 20 equal half yearly instalments starting from 5.5 years after first disbursement, it said.