Sikkim’s prestigious 1200 MW Teesta-III hydel project is
all set to move ahead in full swing with lenders agreeing to infuse Rs 8,500
crore toward revised project cost.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of
lenders called by REC in Delhi.
“We have approved in principle for the revised project
cost of about 8,500 Crores,” a top official confirmed.
All equity investors, including a group of six private
equity partners, have also expressed their full support and commitment to bring
in equity for the revised costs.
The Sikkim state government has also agreed to bring in
its equity share of equity. It is significant that Sikkim Power Secretary Mr A
K Giri attended the REC meeting.
The project cost was originally estimated to be Rs 5,700
crores, but it has gone up due to delay in implementation partly because of a
massive earthquake – which the project survived.
Teesta-III is expected to be back on track soon and the first
unit is expected to begin to produce power by June next year.
Teesta-III, the largest of the six hydel projects on the
Teesta river, is being executed by an SPV called Teesta Urja in which the
Sikkim Government has a 26% stake.
About 15% of the power produced by Teesta-III will go to
Sikkim while the rest 85% supplied to four northern States – Delhi, UP, Haryana
and Rajasthan - which reel under chronic power shortages.
REC and PTC are among the big lenders to the project
while a consortium of six PE players led by Morgan Stanley have pumped in Rs
750 crores signaling the FDI into country’s hydro power projects.
This was considered to be the largest PE transaction in
the country’s power sector. Besides Morgan Stanley, the group of investors
includes Everstone Capital, General Atlantic, Goldman Sachs Investment
Management and Norwest Venture Partners.
No comments:
Post a Comment