Centre Assures Naphtha Supply To Kpcls Proposed Plant

The Centre has assured the Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd (KPCL) of the supply of naphtha for its proposed 240 mw combined cycle power plant (CCPP) at Bidadi, near Bangalore.

In a meeting with senior KPCL officials on Sunday, Union minister of state for power S Venugopalachari promised that the Union government will allocate the sparsely available naphtha for KPCLs 780 crore plant.

The government, however, scaled down the size of the power plant from 300 mw to 240 mw owing to the tight naphtha availability. At 80 per cent capacity, the project needed 2.5 lakh tonnes of naphtha annually.

Besides, Venugopalachari said the Union power ministry is reviewing the proposal for setting up naphtha-based power projects in Karnataka, a final decision on which is expected soon.

 

He said talks on the transfer of nearly 3,000 mw of surplus power from Pakistan to India have started. A proposal originally mooted by the World Bank, the two countries reached an understanding at the recent South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) meet to share their natural resources.

India and Pakistan will finalise the tariff structure for the transfer of power to India in two months to meet the goal of transferring power by 1998-99, he said.

Last week, the Centre had decided to allot an additional 135 mw of power to Karnataka from its unallocated quota. This will be in addition to the 733 mw received from the Central grid every day, the minister said.

On the Mangalore power project, Venugopalachari said, even though the government is working on the power purchase agreements (PPA) and counter-guarantee, the matter will clear up only after the Karnataka High Court delivers its judgment, which is expected soon.

He said, in the next Parliament session, a bill for setting up a regulatory body for the state electricity boards and for introducing private sector participation for power transmission will be taken up.

During the Ninth Plan period, the proposed capacity addition was 57,735 mw, while the required investment for the same was pegged at Rs 2,40,000 crore.

Venugopalachari said that the Asian Development Bank has initiated a technical assistance study for the proposed Indo-Bangladesh energy exchange programme.

The exchange programme, which will come under the international grid of Saarc countries, will involve setting up a 132 kv line from West Bengal to Bangladesh. The Saarc countries are also exploring the possibility of establishing a grid line between Bangladesh and the northeastern states of Tripura and Meghalaya.