The Hindu : National : Maharashtra gives more time for power producers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 27, 2007
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National

Maharashtra gives more time for power producers

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Wednesday extended the time for eight independent power producers to commission their projects till September 2011 with the hope of instilling confidence in them and giving them time to sort out certain vexing issues. About 12,500 MW was expected to be generated from these projects by 2010, with an investment of over Rs. 20,000 crores. However, nothing much has come of this.

While only the projects by Tatas at Trombay and by Jindal’s at Jaigad have made real progress, the rest of them are at various stages of development. After announcing a policy permitting private companies to set up power projects of 500 MW or more, the government signed eight memorandums of understanding (MOU) with power companies in April 2005 of which only three are in the process of setting up their power plants. The other companies include Essar and Ispat.

Initially the companies had to submit their Detailed Project Reports (DPR) within six months of the policy date and achieve financial closure in a year.

The projects also had to be commissioned within five years, i.e. by March 2010. After a review of these conditions, it was found that most of the private players had not adhered to these conditions.

The State Cabinet has accordingly extended all these deadlines. Five of the companies are in the various stages of submitting detailed project reports (DPR). State Energy Minister Dilip Walse Patil told reporters that the government was keen on helping out these companies with their difficulties since they were serious about the projects.

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