The Hindu : National : Mega project status for Dabhol

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 10, 2005

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National

Mega project status for Dabhol

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: In its bid to restart the jinxed Dabhol power plant by the end of 2006, the Centre is likely to grant a slew of fiscal concessions to the project which is now being jointly revived by National Thermal Power Corporation and GAIL (India) Ltd.

The concessions include grant of a "mega project" status to the $ 2.94-billion gas-based project along with duty-free import of liquefied natural gas.

Sources said the empowered Group of Ministers headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee proposed to grant "mega power project" status to the Maharashtra-based project and waive the capital gains tax on transfer of assets from the erstwhile Enron-promoted Dabhol Power Company to the newly formed Ratnagiri Gas & Power Pvt Ltd.

The company jointly promoted by NTPC and GAIL for completing the unfinished jobs in the 2,184MW power project that remained mothballed all this while and restart the plant by the end of 2006. Sources said that the Government would waive the five per cent customs duty on the import of 2.1 million tonnes of LNG so as to bring down the fuel cost and enable generation of power at a "reasonable" tariff of Rs. 2.30 per unit (kWh).

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