CESC lines up Rs 20K cr investments

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Kolkata, July 21: Private power utility CESC Ltd will invest close to Rs 20,000 crore in creating generation capacities over the next six-seven years and follow the NTPC Ltd practice of sticking to generation.

CESC’s vice chairman, Sanjiv Goenka, told reporters after the company’s 28th annual general meeting here that Rs 10,000 crore has been earmarked for West Bengal. CESC looking for sites in other parts of the country to invest the rest.

CESC would not look into distribution except in West Bengal, where it currently has the licence to supply Kolkata and some adjoining areas, and would adopt the NTPC mode in generating from other states. In West Bengal the company would always look to increase its command area, he said.

For West Bengal, “the 2000mw thermal power plant in Haldia would require investments of Rs 9,000 crore and Rs 1,000 crore would be put to top up Budge Budge unit’s capacity from 500mw to 750mw,” Goenka said.

The Haldia plant, he said, would come up in two phases with either four units of 500mw each or three units of 660mw each.

After the first phase of the Haldia plant, which would have a total capacity of 1000mw, around 300-500mw would flow to the CESC command area to offset the projected shortfall by that time.

The first phase of work, expected to be completed by 2011, will come up either as part of the CESC or it may be a separate company promoted by CESC Ltd. “But we need to see various aspects like tax implications before adopting a model.” Goenka said. For the Budge Budge plant, CESC has selected a Korean company and India’s Bhel to implement the project.

The Rs 10,000 crore that CESC plans to invest outside West Bengal may go to Jharkhand, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh, he said.