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Our Bureau

New Delhi, Sept. 11 GMR Energy — a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Ltd — hopes to invest up to Rs 10,000 crore over the next five-seven years to set up 2,000-3,000 MWe nuclear power capacity in the country.

“We are looking for partners for setting up nuclear plants. We are in talks with equipment and fuel suppliers in France, US and Korea. In next 6-12 months time our plans will be firmed up,” Mr Avinash R. Shah, Executive Vice-President of GMR Energy, told reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference on Thursday.

Private firms such as GMR Energy are not allowed to set up nuclear power stations currently as the Atomic Energy Act 1962 restricts the nuclear generation business only to firms where the Government has a minimum 51 per cent stake. GMR Energy and other private sector firms would have to wait till the Government amends the Atomic Energy Act to permit them to invest in the atomic energy sector.

Mr Shah said the company has been gearing up for the opportunity and has hired experienced people from State-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd, the State-owned monopoly player, to spearhead its nuclear foray. “Right now it is at planning and preparation stage. In the next six months to one year, we should have a broad plan… We may get a strategic partner (with nuclear technology) but I cannot say anything more now,” he said.

Mr Shah said GMR Energy, which currently has 800 MW of thermal power generating capacity, could consider a listing on the bourses over the next couple of years. “We have projects to take up the capacity to 4,500 MW in about five years from now,” he said. Of the under-construction projects, 1,500 MW would be hydroelectric power, with two projects in India and three in Nepal. Two coal-based power plants cumulatively adding up to 2,200 MW are under construction in Orissa and Chhattisgarh.

He said the GMR Energy also plans to acquire a coal mine in Indonesia to secure supplies for its power plants in India. “We are looking at mines in Indonesia… in Sumatra. It will be a block of mines to feed our plants in India,” Mr Shah added.

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