The Hindu Business Line : Dabhol project to be restarted by October

The Union Minister for Power, Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde, and the Managing Director, Vestas RRB India Ltd, Mr Rakesh Bakshi, at an exhibition during the 9th Energy Summit in the Capital on Thursday. - Kamal Narang

New Delhi , Aug. 24

The Centre is making efforts to restart the Dabhol power project by October this year. Long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply for the station, which remains shut since July this year following two months of operations due to shortage of naptha, is expected to be tied-up before April next year, the Union Minister of Power, Mr Sushil kumar Shinde, said here on Thursday.

"The power plant has been shut for some time and its re-commissioning would possibly commence by October 2006," Mr Shinde told reporters on the sidelines of a two-day Energy Summit. He said efforts were on to get LNG for the project at the earliest.

LNG Supplies

The Government had earlier waived import duty on naphtha to be imported by Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd — the new owner of the Dabhol plant — for use in generation of electricity. The plant had stopped generating power on July 4 this year after running for nine weeks, mainly due to short supply and high costs of naptha, which was being used as fuel on an interim basis.

GAIL India Ltd, one of the promoters of Ratnagiri Gas and Power, has been trying to tie-up long-term LNG supplies for the project.

The project will need 2.1 million tonnes per annum LNG for the total generation capacity of 2,184 MW. GAIL is reportedly in advanced stages of tieing up LNG supplies and around 1.2 mtpa is likely to come from Qatar's Ras Laffan Gas Co, while discussions were initiated for around 1 mmtpa from ONGC, officials involved in the exercise said.

Bidding Process

On the issue of the ultra mega power projects, Mr Shinde said the Centre was now focussing on initiating the bidding process for two of the proposed 4,000 MW projects — the Sasan project in Madhya Pradesh and the Mundra project in Gujarat — by the end of this year. The other five projects would be taken up subsequently.

Responding to a question regarding the proposed initial public offerings for State-owned power utilities, including Power Finance Corporation, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, Mr Shinde said the public issues were on the cards but refused to give any timeframe for the IPOs. "The IPOs are in the process... it will take time. I cannot say if it will happen in this fiscal," he said.