Qatar body may buy into NTPC project

NEW DELHI: NTPC has offered the Qatar Investment Board a 40% stake in the gas-fired Kayamkulam power project in Kerala, . An NTPC official said that an MoU has been sent to Qatar and that they were expecting a response by Ramadan-end.

“We have sent an MoU to the Qatar Investment Board and are awaiting a response,” NTPC chairman T Sankaralingam said. on the sidelines of a NTPC function here.

The Kayamkulam project has a current installed generation capacity of 350 MW and the company is expanding the plant by another 1,950 MW at an estimated investment of Rs 6,000 crore.

NTPC’s offer to the Qatar Investment Board is part of the ministry of power’s directive to state-owned power sector companies to identify projects for attracting investment from West Asian countries.

The power generation major has been facing difficulties in arranging gas for the project. A senior company official clarified that the joint venture with the board was only an equity partnership and did not involve a gas purchase deal. Qatar is already supplying 5m tonne of liquefied natural gas to Petronet LNG and will increase it by another 2.5m tonne from ’09.