The Hindu : Business : ‘BHEL has to gear up’

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Thursday, Jun 28, 2007
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‘BHEL has to gear up’

Special Correspondent

Capacity addition will not help meet XI Plan target

NEW DELHI: The cold war between the Union Power Minister and the Heavy Industries Ministry further intensified on Wednesday with the Union Power Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, targeting Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), stating that even doubling of capacity by BHEL would not help meet the capacity addition targets set for the XI Plan. The Ministry of Power has been strongly favouring setting up of another power equipment manufacturing facility, something that has been the domain of BHEL that functions under the Heavy Industries Ministry. The Power Ministry has been advocating a joint venture with a multinational company, something that has faced stiff opposition from BHEL and its Ministry. Mr. Shinde and senior Power Ministry officials have thrown enough indications that National Thermal Power Corporation was seriously considering entering the equipment manufacturing programme not only with an eye on the XI Plan but also to meet the stiff challenges likely to be posed during the XII Plan.

Talking to newsmen here on Wednesday, Mr. Shinde said that even if BHEL doubled its capacity, it would not be able to meet the capacity addition requirements of 78,000 MW for the XI Plan.

``The present capacity of BHEL is not enough to meet the country’s needs and it would not be possible to meet the requirement even if BHEL doubles its capacity,” he remarked here.

On its part, the Ministry of Heavy Industries and BHEL had dismissed the claims of the Power Ministry and stated that BHEL could not be blamed for the present mess on the power scenario as it had already embarked on a Rs. 3,200-crore expansion plan to enhance its capacity from the present 7,000 MW to 15,000 MW by 2010.

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