Punjab Govt acquires Goindwal Sahib thermal plant at Rs 1,080 crore

Advertisement

Chandigarh, January 1

The state government has acquired the 540 MW private thermal power plant at Goindwal Sahib at a cost of Rs 1,080 crore. The plant has been acquired after GVK Power, the company that had set up and was operating the plant, went in for corporate insolvency.

Cheapest purchase: Mann

• “The previous governments were known to sell public assets at throwaway prices. However, the AAP-led government has bought the power plant from a private company,” CM Bhagwant Mann said
• The power plant was the cheapest purchase made by any state/private company as other power plants like Korba West, Jhabua Power and Lanco Amarkantak of 600 MW capacity were bought at Rs 1,804 cr, Rs 1,910 cr and Rs 1,818 cr, respectively.

Announcing the acquisition of the plant at a press conference here today, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said his government had reversed a trend with this acquisition.

“The previous governments were known to sell public assets to their favourites at throwaway prices. However, the AAP-led government has bought the power plant from a company and brought it into the public sector,” he said.

He added that the power plant was the cheapest purchase made by any state/private company as other power plants like Korba West, Jhabua Power and Lanco Amarkantak of 600 MW capacity were bought purchased at Rs 1,804 crore, Rs 1,910 crore and Rs 1,818 crore, respectively.

“The 540 MW power plant has been purchased at a cost of Rs 2 crore per MW,” Mann said. He added that the plant will be renamed as Sri Guru Amardass Thermal Power plant, after the third Sikh Guru.

The CM said the available Plant Load Factor of power plant was 61 per cent, which would be increased to 75-80 per cent, thereby augmenting power generation in the state.

He added that with this, 33 per cent (1 out of 3 PPAs with private thermals) PPAs have been terminated. Mann said on January 1, 2018, many units of Bathinda and Ropar thermal power plants were closed permanently but today, his government had purchased a private power plant to augment power supply of the state.

“As coal from the state’s own captive coal mine, Pachhwara, can be used for government power plants, with purchase of this power plant, the coal can be aptly utilised for producing power to provide it to every sector of the state,” he said.

PSEB Engineers’ Association hailed the move, with its president Jasvir Singh Dhiman saying that the acquisition of the plant had considerable potential to ensure reliable and cost-effective power generation for the people. This could help in reduction of power tariff for consumers, he said.

The CM said this purchase would help in reduction in overall tariff by over Rs 1 per unit, adding that it would lead to savings of Rs 300-350 crore on power purchase.

The Chief Minister said that between 2016-23, the state government had purchased 11,165 million units of power by paying Rs 7,902 crore. He added that ironically, the GVK thermal plant was paid Rs 1,718 crore fixed cost without even getting power, adding that average per unit of Rs 7.08 per unit was paid to the power plants.

The Chief Minister said till December 31, all pending arrears of the PSPCL have already been paid. He added that with the acquisition of this plant, there will be three government and two private thermal plants operational in the state.

The CM also announced to review the PPA for the purchase of solar power in the state. He said the state government was purchasing solar power at Rs 2.54, whereas during the earlier tenures, an exorbitant amount of even Rs 15 was paid for the same purchase.

Replying to a query on the rejection of Punjab tableau by the Centre, Mann said the Centre was trying to belittle the contribution and sacrifice of martyrs of the freedom movement by not including their tableaus in the Republic Day parade.