Foreign investors seem to be warming up to India’s power sector again, after a long gap. Hyderabad based infrastructure firm Gayatri Projects on Tuesday signed an agreement with Singapore’s Sembcorp to set up a 1,320 mw thermal power plant in Krishnapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The cost of the supercritical power project will be Rs 6,869 crore – which will include an equity investment of Rs 1,718 crore by the two partners. This is the first investment by a foreign firm in India’s power sector in over four years.
Gayatri managing director T V Sandeep Reddy and Sembcorp executive vice-president Tan Cheng Guan signed the JV agreement in the presence of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah, Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Rajya Sabha Member T Subbarami Reddy today. “The first phase of the project will be completed in 40 months,” Mr. Reddy said. The next phase of the project involves setting up another 1,320 mw power capaicty, he added. The entire 2,640 mw capacity would be ready in five years time. The project will help meet part of the growing power needs of the state, Mr. Rosaiah said at the event.
"Sembcorp is the first foreign company to invest in the power sector in India in the last four-and-a-half years," Mr. Shinde said, speaking at the occasion. Although 100 per cent FDI is permitted in the power sector, response of foreign investors has been tepid so far, Mr. Shinde said. “But now we have taken many corrective steps to help the power sector grow, which is restoring confidence among foreign investors," he added.
Gayatri Projects will own a 51 per cent stake in the project, while Sembcorp will hold the remainder. The Singapore based firm would be investing Rs 1,100 crore in the project, Gayatri said in a statement. Sembcorp Utilities is a Singapore based firm with interests in power generation and water supply. Temasak Holdings, the investment arm of Singapore Government, owns a 49.7 per cent stake in the firm.
Showing posts with label T. Subbarami Reddy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label T. Subbarami Reddy. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Honey goes out of moon mission
The Planning Commission has slashed funding for the programme to send a manned mission to the moon by 2015. The Human Space Flight Programme (HSFP), earlier allocated Rs 238 crores, will now get only Rs 30 crores because the commission wants to allocate the rest for a rural job scheme.
When the parliamentary standing committee on science and technology asked why, the commission’s explanation was since the HSFP would be taken up in phases it did not need this consolidated amount.
The committee chief, Mr T. Subbarami Reddy, said he and other MPs were of the view that once the department of space approved such a vital programme, the Planning Commission had no business putting up stumbling blocks. The committee strongly recommended that the final say in such scientific projects should rest with the department of space, and financial constraints should not be allowed to come in the way.
Space scientists stress on the importance of manned missions particularly as the US, Russia, China and Japan are looking at the habitat on Mars, which is full of water, land bearing clouds, atmosphere, and plan to make regular excursions there by 2030-35.
When the parliamentary standing committee on science and technology asked why, the commission’s explanation was since the HSFP would be taken up in phases it did not need this consolidated amount.
The committee chief, Mr T. Subbarami Reddy, said he and other MPs were of the view that once the department of space approved such a vital programme, the Planning Commission had no business putting up stumbling blocks. The committee strongly recommended that the final say in such scientific projects should rest with the department of space, and financial constraints should not be allowed to come in the way.
Space scientists stress on the importance of manned missions particularly as the US, Russia, China and Japan are looking at the habitat on Mars, which is full of water, land bearing clouds, atmosphere, and plan to make regular excursions there by 2030-35.
