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GAIL to infuse Rs. 500 cr. in Ratnagiri power project

Sujay Mehdudia

Likely to get the adjoining LNG terminal

NEW DELHI: Coming to the rescue of the beleaguered Dhabol Power Plant, Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) is understood to have given a green signal to the proposal to pump in Rs. 500 crore into the project on the condition that the adjoining LNG terminal would be hived off and the company would be given the right to buy the facility.

Fund infusion

The matter had been hanging fire for a long time as GAIL had been insisting that it was ready to infuse Rs. 500 crore into Ratnagiri Gas and Power Private Limited (RGPPL) provided it was given the LNG terminal.

Highly placed sources said the board of directors of GAIL recently cleared the proposal for infusion of Rs. 500 crore after it got a signal that it would get the LNG facility.

GAIL Chairman U. D. Chowbey was keen on acquiring the LNG terminal in return for infusion of money that RGPPL needed for payoff its debts and to revive the plant.

The Empowered Group of Ministers headed by the Union External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukerjee, had asked GAIL and NTPC to infuse additional funds to enable RGPPL to payoff its debts to the contractors who had threatened legal action.

The sources said RGPPL required Rs. 450 crore for revival of power plants and Rs. 565 crore for the LNG works, but it did not have the money to pay the contractors.

Revival

Hiving off the LNG terminal and selling it was one of the options considered by the Government to expedite the revival of the Dabhol project.

At present, RGPPL holds both assets of the erstwhile Dabhol power project — the 2,150 MW generation plant as well as the five-million tonne liquefaction natural gas (LNG) terminal in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.

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