Govt mulls divestment in NTPC, Power Grid

Addressing a press conference later in the day, NTPC chairman and managing director Rajendra Singh said NTPC has not sold stock till now as it would not have fetched a good price. quot;Now that the company8217;s performance is a rising graph, disinvestment can be considered,quot; he said.

The Disinvestment Commission had not favoured divestment in NTPC and PGCIL saying it could take place at a later stage as the companies were categorised under the core sector. quot;The commission had recommended thatdivestment should not be taken up in NTPC and PGCIL, but the possibility of divestment might arise in the future,quot; Pandit said.

NTPC has announced a net profit of Rs 2,815.73 crore for 1998-99 and a dividend of Rs 650 crore for 1998-99, this gives the company a good earnings per share, Singh said. Once performance improves further we will be ready to approach the market, he stated.

Singh also stated that there is no clash of interest with Petronet over NTPC picking up equity in the rival LNG terminal project at Pipavav in Gujarat. NTPC is an equity holder in Petronet8217;s LNG projects at Cochin and Dahej. There has been debate whether it would be fair for NTPC to participate in a rival LNG project at Pipavav where British Gas is a share holder. Singh clarified that Cabinet clearance has been obtained on the issue of NTPC picking up equity in the Pipavav project.

Commenting on the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission8217;s views that power tariff should be reduced across the board, Singh said that anydecision which puts the central utilities, state sector utilities and the private power projects on par would be welcome. An unequal playing field between the three categories of power generators will not be acceptable to NTPC, he said. It is felt that since NTPC8217;s dues from state electricity baords are only rising, any diktat to reduce tariffs would put the company in difficulty.

NTPC currently has outstandings amounting to Rs 11,978.39 crore, inclusive of Rs 4424.14 crore in the form of surcharge.

Singh also stated that in the current year the company will be inviting bids for projects whose combined installed capacity will be 6100 mw. The break-up being 650 mw each for Kawas II, Ant II, Auraiya II and Gandhar II; in addition to these projects bids will be invited for 1000 mw for Rihand II, 500 mw for Ramagundam and 2000 mw for Talcher II.

PGCIL chairman and managing director R P Singh said the company was planning to make a massive investment to the tune of Rs 23,000 crore during the 11th plan in thetransmission sector alone. quot;We are planning to modernise our regional load dispatch centres and also working out various possibilities of transferring the surplus power from the eastern region to the other parts of the country,quot; Singh said.

PGCIL was targeting to transfer about 13,000 mw of power across the country by the year 2004 which would later rise to about 30,000 mw by the year 2012, he said, adding this would only be facilitated through a strong national grid in place.