 Mumbai:
The talks initiated by Tata Power Company (TPC) and British
Petroleum (BP) with Gas Authority of India (GAIL) for
bidding with them for the troubled Dabhol Power Company''s
(DPC) power project and KNG terminal are in an advanced
stage. DPC''s 2,184-mega watt power project and the 5-million-tonne
LNG import terminal in Maharashtra have been mired in
controversy for over three years.
TPC
and BP Global Investments have already formed a special
purpose vehicle (SPV) for the bidding process and now
the energy majors are trying to rope in GAIL as an equity
partner in the SPV. TPC and BP have already concluded
a few rounds of serious talks with GAIL.
Sources
close to the development say the TPC-BP move is based
on the recent decision taken by the lenders to DPC led
by IDBI, to invite global bids for the sale of assets.
NM Rothschild & Sons (India), the financial advisor
appointed by the lenders, has already come up with a blueprint
for the sale of the project. Top officials from the Indian
lenders and the advisor company had met both the power
and finance ministry officials recently to seek the government
nod.
 The
sources add that the government officials advised them
to go ahead with the DPC asset sale and consider the DPC
case as a pure commercial deal rather than a political
one. The move to initiate the sale of assets is a complete
departure from the lenders'' earlier attempts to sell Enron''s
equity in the project, which is around 65 per cent. The
other stakeholders are Maharashtra State Electricity Board
(15 per cent), Bechtel (10 per cent) and GE (10 per cent).
Though
the earlier international bidding processes drew many
interested parties including Tata Power, BSES, Reliance
and BP, the lenders had subsequently called off the process
following various legal and commercial issues involved
in the project. The lenders had also returned the earnest
money deposit of $100,000 to all the interested parties.
The
sources say NM Rothschild, on behalf of IDBI-led lenders,
has already completed the groundwork for calling bids;
it will be an open, transparent process. It will involve
an expression of interest, information memorandum, due
diligence, request for qualifications and technical and
financial bids.
Tractabel,
the technical consultant appointed by NM Rothschild, has
concluded that the plant, which is lying idle for over
two years, will require around $15 million for the restart
of phase I. The technical consultant has said that GE
participation in restart of the plant is vital, while
Bechtel as engineering, procurement and construction contractor,
is dispensable. GE supplied various turbines to the project.
The
power plant at Dabhol, which is currently under the high
court-appointed receiver, is being maintained by the Delhi-based
Punj Loyd.
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