The Hindu Business Line : KRL plans to revive power project

Addressing a joint press conference, Mr S. Behuria, Chairman, and Mr B.K. Menon, Managing Director, said now that the Electricity Act had been amended, the company was reviving the project.

The company also showed keenness to become an active participant in the 2.5-million-tonne (m.t.) per annum Petronet LNG project, which has been hanging fire for the past several years.

While the 5-m.t. Dahej Petronet LNG project, which was announced along with the Kochi project, has gone on stream, there has been hardly any progress at the Kochi end.

"The power project would be pursued on lines similar to the earlier project proposal, but we would be exploring the option of using LNG. KRL would definitely be a party to the natural gas plans of the State," Mr Menon said.

Mr Behuria, who is also the Chairman and Managing Director of BPCL, said the company would be launching superior diesel in select North Indian markets, including Mumbai this month. He also congratulated KRL for making its maiden foray into the diesel export market this year.

Reviewing KRL's performance last year, Mr Behuria said net profit rose by 21 per cent to Rs 555 crore from Rs 456 crore. The company has also declared a 120 per cent dividend, Rs 12 per share. The outgo on this count would be Rs 166.20 crore.

KRL also has investment plans amounting to Rs 3,000 crore for the period up to 2010. Phase I of the capacity expansion and modernisation project would involve setting up facilities for quality upgradation of motor spirit and high speed diesel to meet the Bharat Stage II emission norms. The investment approval for this project was obtained in July 2003 and it is under implementation. It is to be commissioned in December 2004 at an estimated cost of Rs 273 crore.

Phase II of this project envisages quality upgradation of petrol and diesel to Euro III emission norms, modernisation of the refinery and capacity expansion.

More Stories on : Diversification | Petroleum | Power

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page