Union power minister R Kumaramangalam told the delegates at the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit that as many as 27 leading foreign companies had evinced interest in putting up these mega power projects.

These include the 1000 MW Cuddalore project in Tamil Nadu, 1500 MW Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, 1000 MW Narmada and 2000 MW Pipavav in Gujarat and two other projects on the Western coast.

In addition to this, he said that the 3960 MW Hirma power project in Orissa, which had been negotiated on the MoU route, had also been put in the category of mega power projects. However, unlike, other mega power projects, where developers are yet to be identified, Hirma will be taken up by the Southern Electric Company of the UK.

The minister said that the standing independent group was also talking to various domestic and international financialinstitutions for making these projects bankable.

Kumaramangalam said that the setting up of a power trading company would enable the promotores of mega projects to negotiate with one buyer only and would eliminate risks regarding payments.

He also mentioned that the project promoter, the trading company and the Reserve Bank would have to enter a tripartite agreement. This arrangement, the minister said, would be as good as having a counter guarantee.

The minister called on the foreign investors to invest in the country's power sector which was the fastest growing sector of the economy and assured them good returns for their investments.

"It would not be possible for us to address the growing needs of the consumers if there is no investment from the private sector", he added.

The minister informed the gathering that the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) had already cleared 44 private power projects with a capacity addition of about 24,500 MW and said that CEA was also in the process of framingguidelines for the national grid.

Kumaramangalam said that in order to improve the efficiency of the power plants, the government was targetting for a plant load factor (PLF) of 75 per cent from the present level of 66.4 per cent by the next year.

He said that SEBs had already initiated the process of setting up of regulatory commissions. Orissa, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh had already done it and ten other states were following suit.