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National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) plans to increase its stake in the nuclear power joint venture with Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL). Nalco currently holds 26 per cent in the joint venture — NPCIL Nalco Nuclear Power Co Ltd.
Nalco is slated to have 49 per cent. The joint venture agreement, signed earlier, had the provision for the stake hike by Nalco.
Confirming this to Business Line , Mr B.L. Bagra, CMD of Nalco, said the Department of Atomic Energy was expected to clear NPCIL's proposal soon.
The new joint venture, incorporated on March 2, has already taken up assignment of setting up 1,400 MW (700x2) Kakrapar units III and V in Surat district of Gujarat as its first project with an estimated project cost of Rs 11,500 crore.
According to the arrangement, the joint venture will have a base equity capital of Rs 1,000 core, which would be enhanced to Rs 3,800 crore in the next two years. For the Kakrapar project, the joint venture would borrow around Rs 7,900 crore from a consortium of banks and financial institutions.
“Negotiations with the bankers have already been initiated,” Mr Bagra said.
The Karapar project will utilise indigenously developed pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR) and is scheduled to be commissioned by December 2015. This strategic investment in power generation, however, was not related to Nalco's energy consumption, Mr Bagra explained.
jayanta_mallick@thehindu.co.in
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