The Hindu : National : Power project row goes to adjudicator

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 05, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

Power project row goes to adjudicator

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The retired Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court, Anil Dev Singh, will adjudicate the dispute between India and Russia over contractual obligations for the super critical 3x600-MW Barh thermal project in Bihar.

Justice Singh will hear both parties and the proceedings will be over by November 30.

The appointment of the adjudicator comes on the heels of the state-run National Thermal Power Corporation serving an “adjudication notice” on the Russian company, Techno Prom Export (TPE), asking it to resume work on the project or face the legal process. The TPE refused to comply with the contractual obligations and instead opted for the adjudication process.

Giving this information here on Tuesday, Minister of State for Power Jairam Ramesh said that for the past few months, the NTPC had been in talks with the TPE to sort out the disputes over price and time escalations and get the work resumed at the site. However, despite all efforts and even visits by an NTPC team to Russia and his taking up the matter with the Russian Ambassador, no breakthrough was achieved.

While the 2x660-MW second stage had begun and orders were placed with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, stage I was faced with unending delays.

The Minister said Barh Stage-I, which began in February 2005, was behind schedule mainly because of the long-standing disputes between the NTPC and the TPE, which was the turnkey contractor for the project. Unit 1 was supposed to be commissioned by March 2009 but the current anticipated date was January 2011. The other two units were also delayed by over two years.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National