The power-starved Maharashtra government proposes to strongly oppose the hiving off LNG terminal at the 2,150 mw Ratnagiri power project, previously Dabhol project.
Instead, the state government is expected to express its desire to take over the LNG terminal which is incomplete at the project site. Besides, the state government will make a strong claim for the chairmanship of the Ratnagiri Gas & Power Pvt Ltd, whose equity holders include banks and financial institutions, NTPC, GAIL India and MSEB Holding Company.
These issues will come up for discussion at the meeting on Saturday convened by the cabinet secretary K Chandrashekhar with the RGPPL stakeholders and officials of the concerned departments. It must be mentioned here that NTPC, which holds 28.3% equity in the RGPPL, has already threatened to get out of the project if LNG terminal is hived off.
The state government, which is struggling to tackle ever increasing power deficit in the state, has emphasised the need for the revival of the project to be complete by April so that 1,900 MW against 2,150 MW will be available. Due to the GE supplied turbines, RGPPL will not be in a position to generate at its full capacity of 2,150 mw.
A state government official told FE on Friday ?The chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh held meeting to decide the government?s line. Various options on the LNG hive off and bearing additional burden due to the rise in the project revival cost were discussed.?
Sources said that the government was strongly opposed to sharing the burden on account of rise in the per unit tariff of around Rs 3.01 by the MSEB Holding Company alone. Instead, the government wants that it should be shared by other stake holders also.
As reported by FE, the government is not inclined to share the additional cost due to increase in the interest during construction. The government has been consistent on its view that the additional cost be borne by the lenders to the project under the common term loan agreement.