The Telangana government on Saturday achieved financial closure for its proposed power projects with an aggregate installed capacity of 6,280 MW with the Rural Electrical Corporation of Central government signing a Memorandum of Understanding with it for grant of Rs. 24,000 crore loan.
The REC chairman and managing director Rajeev Sharma signed the MoU with Telangana State Generation Corporation D. Prabhakar Rao in the presence of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. Mr. Sharma reduced the interest rate on the loan by 0.5 per cent as compared to other States as a special case at the request of the Chief Minister.
It will reduce the burden on GENCO by about Rs. 600 crore, a release said. The proposed projects of 6,280 MW include 800 MW at Kothagudem Thermal Power Station, 1,080 MW at Bhadradri in Manuguru of Khammam district and 4,400 MW at Damaracherla in Nalgonda district.
The Power Finance Corporation had earlier agreed to fund them to the tune of Rs. 15,000 crore and, now, the REC which is a Navaratna enterprise and provided financial assistance for rural electrification and generation, transmission and distribution projects of power companies had come forward. The Telangana State GENCO will provide Rs. 3,000 crore, totalling Rs. 42,000 crore, the release added. The total investment on 10,280 MW capacity addition at the power plants in the next four years, however, will be Rs. 91,500 crore with the National Thermal Power Corporation spending Rs. 24,000 crore on its 4,000 MW projects (1,600 MW at Ramagundam and 2,400 MW at Damaracherla) and Singareni Collieries Company Limited mobilising Rs. 4,000 crore. Another Rs 21,500 crore will be invested in solar projects and evacuation and transmission lines.
Mr. Rao informed Mr. Sharma on the occasion that 10,000 acres of land was acquired at Damaracherla for the 4,400 MW plant. Another 1,134 acres was also acquired for the 1,080 MW plant at Bhadradri.
