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May 11, 2001
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Money > PTI > Report May 11, 2001 |
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'Enron willing to renegotiate PPA'The US energy major Enron-promoted Dabhol Power Company on Friday seemed to have softened its stand and expressed readiness to 're-negotiate' the estranged power purchase agreement with Maharashtra State Electricity Board for the 2,184 mw project in Dabhol. At their first meeting, which lasted for more than two hours here, with the state-appointed Godbole panel, Enron India chief K Wade Cline and DPC president Neil McGregor sent 'positive signals' to MSEB officials and representatives of the state government. "They have not refused to renegotiate the PPA and also the very fact that Cline and his colleagues agreed to attend the May 23 meeting could be construed that the company is ready for the same," officials who attended the meeting said. They said during the meeting both MSEB and DPC officials updated the committee head Madhav Godbole about the recent developments in the entire controversy. When inquired whether the issue of the Rs 4.01-billion penalty slapped on DPC by MSEB figured in the meeting, the officials said: "Since this matter has now been referred to arbitration, it was not discussed at all." DPC officials also did not mention about the total Rs 2.13-billion pending bills for December 2000 and January 2001, for which the multinational has invoked the Centre's counter guarantee, they said. "DPC's courtesy call lasted for more than two hours...we must say...this has come to us as a real surprise," the officials said. In the afternoon, Cline had told waiting reporters that 'discussions with the panel went on fine' and declined to comment when asked if DPC was issuing the pre-termination notice to MSEB. Last week, DPC had said that company officials would meet the panel 'as a matter of courtesy' and this should 'in no manner be construed as an open offer from the company to renegotiate the terms of the contract'. The US energy major had also made it clear that the purpose of the meeting was 'to hear out the panel and understand their thoughts, and not present any proposals'. Others who comprised the DPC team were vice-presidents Sanjeev Khandekar and Mukesh Tyagi, chief financial officer Mohan Gurunath, representative of its legal firm Linklaters and Alliance Jonathan Inman and the foreign lenders observor A G Karkhanis, a former executive director with Industrial Development Bank of India. The panel members who did not attend the meeting were HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, former Union Power Secretary E A S Sarma, Indira Gandhi Research Institute faculty member Kirit Parekh and Tata Energy Research Institute director R Pachauri. The Centre's representative A V Gokak could not attend the meeting as he had been given very short notice about his appointment, the officials informed. The Godbole panel would suggest solutions to reduce DPC's exorbitant power tariff, separation of the $800 million liquefied natural gas facility, restructuring of DPC and allowing sale of excess power through central utilities mainly the National Thermal Power Corporation. YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ:
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