UP govt signs power projects, fixes deadline for non-stop supply

The Uttar Pradesh government signed power purchase agreements with Reliance Energy Limited, Lanco Kondapalli and the GVK group on Sunday.

The Uttar Pradesh government signed power purchase agreements PPAs with Reliance Energy Limited, Lanco Kondapalli and the GVK group on Sunday. The combined capacity of the three plants will be 1,930 MW, and the projects are expected to be completed in three years.

While Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group has signed a PPA for the Rosa power plant, GVK and Lanco signed agreements for Srinagar hydro project and Anpara 8220;C8221; respectively. UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav signed the agreements with Reliance Energy chairman Anil Ambani, Lanco Kondapalli chairman L. Madhusudhan Rao and GVK group chairman G.V. Krishna Reddy.

While the 600 MW Rosa plant will be set up at Shahjahanpur, the GVK Group8217;s 330 MW Alakhnanda Hydel Project will be located at Paudi-Garhwal in Srinagar, Uttarakhand. Lanco Kondapalli Power Pvt Ltd will set up a 1,000 MW Anpara 8220;C8221; plant.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said a 2010 deadline has been set so that the state gets 24-hour power supply instead of the 15-hour-a-day at present.

He said Reliance will spend Rs 2,641 crore in setting up the Rosa project and the power generated from it would cost Rs 2.15 per unit. The GVK Group will spend 1,978 crore on Alakhnanda Project. The production cost is expected to be roughly Rs 2 per unit and power would be supplied within three years. The Lanco Group will spend Rs 10,500 and the production cost per unit would be Rs 1.91.

The CM added that the Rosa Project was initially handed over to the Kumarmangalam Birla Group and the Alakhnanda project to TATA, but they couldn8217;t take up the projects due to other commitments.

Anil Ambani said the Rosa plant had been on the cards for the last 10 years and even his father was very keen to take it up.

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Madhusudhan Rao said he hoped to produce electricity at the lowest cost in the country and added that his company would strive to complete the project in a record time and start supplying power before the deadline.

Gas will soon flow to Dadri: Anil

LUCKNOW: R-ADAG chairman Anil Ambani has said that gas will soon flow from the Krishna-Godawari Dhirubhai 1 and 3 Gas Fields to the Ambani Energy City in Dadri and the commitment of his father Dhirubhai Ambani towards the development of Uttar Pradesh would be a reality as there was no question of backtracking from the Dadri Power Project.

8220;Although there are many obstacles but I am sure that this project of largest investment at any single place would come up very soon8221;, he said.

UPDC chairman Amar Singh blamed Murli Deora, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas for creating confusion and hurdles on the way to success of the Dadri project.

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8220;The Ambani brothers have already agreed for mutual cooperation but the Centre was delaying price fixation of gas which would be needed in Dadri 8220;, he said. 8212; Piyush Srivastava