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GMDC to diversify into power, set up Rs 12 billion plant in Kutch

The Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation is setting up a Rs 11.80 billion 250 mega-watt power project in the Kutch region of Gujarat which will be commissioned by June 2001.

GMDC Managing Director V V Rama Subba Rao said that the power generated will be sold to the Gujarat State Electricity Board and the power purchase agreement will be signed within the next four weeks.

The fuel will be generated from lignite and the corporation will finance the total equity requirement, which is around 20 per cent. The balance will be raised from debt side, which includes issuing of debentures and tax-free bonds, commercial bank borrowings, from Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation, external suppliers credit and financial institutions.

Rao said the fuel will be GMDC's lignite from its mines and the technology will be environment-friendly. Seawater will be used for cooling.

In the Kutch region's sea-shore, the corporation has acquired 307 hectares of land for the project and it has placed order for boiler with Alstom of Germany and turbine an Italian company. The orders have been placed after global bidding.

The project has been cleared by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board and is awaiting environmental clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests. The project is not in forest or sanctuary area and does not violate the coastal regulation zone, Rao informed. A feasibilty study has also been carried out by the National Institute for Oceanographic Studies.

The work is likely to commence from January 1, 1999 and will be completed in flat 32 months. He hoped that by June 2001, the project will be complete.

UNI