Govt considering Dabhol power plant sell-off
Sources said selling the 2184 MW power plant and the adjacent LNG import and regassification facility would be an option.
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: The Government may sell-off the Dabhol power plant in Maharashtra if current efforts to revive the project and generate electricity at Rs 3 per unit fail, government sources said here.
At a meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) last month, Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi mooted the possibility of selling off the entire Dabhol project in case the plant could be operated by another entity on a sustained basis.
Sources said selling the 2184 MW power plant and the adjacent LNG import and regassification facility would be an option if the current efforts of sourcing fuel (LNG) rates, that would enable power generation at affordable rates, fail.
Petronet LNG Ltd was in dialogue with Qatar for sourcing 1.2 million tonnes per annum LNG for 2007 but price remains an issue.
Chaturvedi, sources said, proposed implementing a pooled gas price for the project -- pool the price of gas supplied to other consumers in the country with more expensive LNG.
Petroleum Ministry has also been asked to tap supplies of gas from ONGC, Cairn Energy, British Gas and Reliance Industries for the project. The ministry has been given a month to conduct a feasibility exercise, they said.
Currently, only power block-II with a capacity of 670 MW is ready and would be put to operation using naphtha. The power generated would cost Maharashtra government Rs 5.19 per unit.
In case the petroleum ministry's exercise to pool the price of gas failed and it was not possible to supply power at less than Rs 3 per unit from the project, the government may look for a buyer for the project.
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