Infrastructure honchos seek Chandrababu Naidu's support to revive power plants

HYDERABAD: Heads of infrastructure companies, including Reliance Group's Anil Ambani, GVK group's GV Krishna Reddy and Lagadapati Madhusudhan Rao of Lanco, met the Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu seeking his support to revive 7,000 megawatt (MW) of idle gas-fired electricity plants by ensuring fuel supplies.

Several gas-fired private power plants were set up during Naidu's 1995-2004 stint as chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, but most of them are lying idle for want of natural gas.

Even though the Union Government had assured gas allocation from Reliance Industries' KG D-6 block, many projects had to remain idle as gas production from the KG basin dwindled sharply.

Chandrababu Naidu, whose TDP is a part of the governing coalition at the Centre, assured the power producers that he will raise the matter with the Centre to expedite setting up of LNG terminals, a person aware of the meeting said.

The representatives of power companies urged Naidu to see if LNG can be routed from Gujarat on the West Coast through an existing gas pipeline connecting Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh, which is entangled in a fight with the new state of Telangana over power distribution, is looking to secure additional coal and gas supplies with the help of the Union Government to attract industrial investments, said a senior bureaucrat on condition of anonymity.