from the enron india newsdesk - may 5 - 7 newsclips stinson / vince ,
some news articles . do read the first one , and the second last one .
regards ,
sandeep .
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - forwarded by sandeep kohli / enron _ development on
05 / 07 / 2001 09 : 10 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
nikita varma
05 / 07 / 2001 07 : 42 am
to : nikita varma / enron _ development @ enron _ development
cc : ( bcc : sandeep kohli / enron _ development )
subject : from the enron india newsdesk - may 5 - 7 newsclips
the economic times , may 7 , 2001
enron ceo casts vote to save dpc , tina edwin & soma banerjee
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the economic times , may 7 , 2001
maha sore over delay in naming godbole nominee
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the times of india , 7 may , 2001
maharashtra ' unhappy ' with delay in naming godbole nominee
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business standard , monday , 7 may 2001
reliance allowed to hawk power from patalganga to third parties
arijit de , s ravindran & renni abraham in mumbai
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the economic times , may 7 , 2001
no need of patalganga , bhadravati power : mseb
also appeared in the following newspaper :
the times of india , may 7 , 2001
' no need of patalganga , bhadravati power '
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business standard , may 7 , 2001
global bankers ask govt to honour dpc obligations
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business standard
saturday , 5 may , 2001 ,
ge may pull out as dpc supplier , s ravindran in mumbai
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hindu businessline , may 5 , 2001
agenda for fresh talks with enron chalked out
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the economic times , may 6 , 2001
http : / / 216 . 34 . 146 . 167 : 8000 / servlet / form
godbole panel meets sans dabhol representation
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the economic times , may 5 , 2001
http : / / 216 . 34 . 146 . 167 : 8000 / servlet / form
ntpc not to buy power from enron : govt
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the times of india , may 7 , 2001
mseb recovers rs 3 . 06 cr arrears in one day
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the economic times , may 7 , 2001
enron ceo casts vote to save dpc , tina edwin & soma banerjee
amul ' s creative directors may have gone back to ad - libbing ' enron or
enr - off ' , but for the big kahuna at the american utility , dabhol is still a
worthwhile project . while the entire enron board had almost decided to call
it quits and proceed with the termination of the $ 2 . 9 - billion power project
at dabhol , the veto exercised by the company chairman kenneth lay has saved
the project  * - at least for the timebeing . sources said the meeting held on
tuesday at the energy major ' s headquarters in houston could have sounded the
death knell for the only big foreign investment in the indian power sector .
although the future of the project is still pretty uncertain with the lenders
unwilling to continue disbursements unless payment obligations are not
honoured and contractual obligations left unfulfilled , the veto exercised at
this juncture by the chairman of the parent company has come as a big boost
to the indian venture . company sources said : " we do not know what went on
there but it is true that as of now we are not pulling out . " with the
engineering procurement and construction contractors ge and equipment
suppliers bechtel too in a cautious mode mode , dpc was finding it even more
difficult to continue the construction of the project as per the schedules .
sources said the stand taken by the rest of the directors on the board would
be in view of the backlash that the company would have to face from its
shareholders if the project actually flopped . enron had similar bitter
experiences in pakistan and it was difficult for the parent company to then
justify such investments to the shareholders .
enron , which had planned a major investments in india ' s infrastructure
sectors such as oil and gas , lng , gas transportation , telecom and broadband
network , has already pulled out most of their personnel from some of these
operations . the company ' s mous with various other majors like indian oil
corporation , too , is in a limbo and the us major ' s stake in the oil and gas
venture is up for grabs . however , even though lay is still hoping to find a
solution to the controversy back home , both dpc and mseb are still to get
down to negotiations .
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the economic times , may 7 , 2001
maha sore over delay in naming godbole nominee
the maharashtra government has expressed ' unhappiness ' over the centre ' s
delay in appointing its nominee on the nine - member godbole committee to
renegotiate the power purchase agreement signed between enron - promoted
dabhol power company and state electricity board . " the committee , which is
to hold discussions with enron officials from houston on may 11 , has only a
month ' s time for renegotiations and with dpc ' s termination notice threat
hanging on our head , time is actually running out . yet there is no official
to represent the union government , " said a senior state government official .
" there are media reports that the solicitor - general harish salve would be
appointed , but we are yet to hear anything from their side , " he said .
the official said the state expected centre to announce its representative
before may 11 , as it would appreciate his crucial presence in the first
session of discussions with enron officials , lenders and gas suppliers .
sources in the mantralaya added the government had also been unhappy over
the centre ' s " rigid stand " on not allowing state - owned national thermal power
corporation to buy the excess capacity of dpc ' s total 2 , 184 - mw project .
" let ntpc and power trading corporation of india come together and sell dpc ' s
surlpus power . we have already mooted this suggestion , but a favourable reply
is yet to come from the union power ministry , " the official said .
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the times of india , 7 may , 2001
maharashtra ' unhappy ' with delay in naming godbole nominee
the maharashtra government has expressed ' unhappiness ' over the centre ' s
delay in appointing its nominee on the nine - member godbole committee to
renegotiate the power purchase agreement ( ppa ) signed between enron promoted
dabhol power company ( dpc ) and the maharashtra state electricity board
( mseb ) . " the committee , which is to hold discussions with enron officials
from houston on may 11 , has only a month ' s time for renegotiations and with
dpc ' s termination notice threat hanging on our head , time is actually running
out . yet there is no official to represent the union government , " a senior
state government official said here on sunday . " there are media reports that
solicitor general harish salve would be appointed , but we are yet to hear
anything from their side , " he said .
the official said that the state expected the centre to announce their
representative before may 11 , as it would appreciate his crucial presence in
the first session of discussions with enron officials , lenders and gas
suppliers . sources in the mantralaya added that the government had also been
unhappy over the centre ' s rigid stand on not allowing state - owned national
thermal power corporation ( ntpc ) to buy the excess capacity of dpc ' s total
2 , 184 mw project . " let ntpc and power trading corporation of india ( ptc ) come
together and sell dpc ' s surlpus power . we have already mooted this
suggestion , but a favourable reply is yet to come from the union power
ministry , " the official said . the official said that the centre , which was
also responsible for dpc project as it has provided counter guarantee to
enron india , should form a special purpose vehicle for sale of the excess
power to other states . the state government ' s reaction comes in wake of union
power minister suresh prabhu ' s discussion with chief minister vilasrao
deshmukh in delhi few days ago . it was learnt that prabhu told deshmukh
" there is no question of ntpc buying power from the project since long term
ppas have been signed by ntpc with the buying states " .
deshmukh had suggested that the central power utility should sell excess
power over and above the 300 - 400 mw needed for the state from the dpc ' s 740
mw phase - i and soon to be commissioned phase - ii of 1 , 444 mw , to other needy
states . considering the high cost of power generated from dpc , which during
the recent months has hovered around rs 7 per unit as against an average cost
of rs 2 . 30 - 2 . 80 a unit from central and state utilities , there would be few
takers for the power from dabhol , the power minister reportedly said .
" deficit states will buy dpc power only when the cost of power is brought
down , " he said , adding power ministry would facilitate wheelng of this power
to the buyers .
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business standard , monday , 7 may 2001
reliance allowed to hawk power from patalganga to third parties
arijit de , s ravindran & renni abraham in mumbai
in an unusual departure from normal practice , the maharashtra government has
allowed the reliance group to sell power generated by its 447 - mw patalganga
power project directly to third parties if the maharashtra state
electricity board ( mseb ) does not lift power . the project  , s power purchase
agreement ( ppa ) has a clause to this effect . the state government  , s
permission to reliance to hawk power to third parties has to be seen in the
context of its dithering on forwarding to the centre the dabhol power
company  , s bid for mega power status so that it could sell power to third
parties .
dpc sources told business standard several weeks ago that the company  , s
application had been pending with the chief minister  , s office for months .
only now has the state government authorised the godbole committee to
negotiate with dpc on third party sales outside the state . the dpc project
is facing the threat of closure following mseb  , s inability to buy power from
it , thanks to the board  , s weak financial position . not only can the
reliance group sell power to third parties within maharashtra , but it can
sell power to utilities outside the state . the ppa does not expressly bar it
from doing so . nor does it specify the category of customers to whom power
can be sold . so , in effect , this suggests that the group could sell power to
industrial and commercial customers in maharashtra and emerge as a rival to
the mseb . the state electricity board derives over 80 per cent of its revenue
from such consumers .
apart from captive power plants , independent power producers in india are
allowed to sell power only to state electricity boards . they can sell power
outside the state only if they qualify for mega power project status . with
its 447 - mw capacity , the patalganga project is not eligible for such status
because mega power rojects are supposed to have a minimum capacity of 1 , 000
mw . speaking on the sidelines of a press conference last week , reliance
industries managing director anil ambani told business standard : a provision
in third parties . ambani was answering a question on whether the mseb  , s weak
financials and inability to offer escrow cover to the project as emphasised
in the godbole committee report set up to defuse the dabhol crisis would
derail the patalganga project .
the ppa does not have any express restriction as to third party sale outside
the state , a reliance spokesperson confirmed on friday in a faxed response
to questions . a senior mseb official explained that the state government
cleared private power projects some years ago on the basis of the
unrealistically high demand projections contained in a report by a former
mseb official . subsequently , it was realised that the state would be stuck
with excess power . so the reliance group was permitted to sell power to third
parties , he said . the patalganga project along with the ispat group  , s 1 , 082
mw bhadravati project has been put on hold till the godbole committee submits
its second
report .
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the economic times , may 7 , 2001
no need of patalganga , bhadravati power : mseb
the axe seems to have finally fallen on the much - delayed reliance
industries - promoted patalganga and ispat industries ' bhadravati power
projects in maharashtra as the state electricity board has firmly told the
government that " there is no need of these projects nor their power " . the
loss - making board has communicated to the government that mseb had " no
interest " in patalganga and bhadravati , as it did not have escrow - able
capacity and also that industrial demand for power had slowed down
tremendously in maharashtra , state government sources said here on sunday .
" in last november itself , mseb had sent an official intimation to the state
government informing its decision in favour of cancellation of the two
projects on several grounds - - including they being unviable and
unaffordable , " sources said . " reliance ' s project is no different from that of
dpc ' s . patalganga is also naphtha - based and its ppa is on similar lines . . .
after the enron experience , mseb cannot even dream of another gas - based
power plant in the state , " a senior mseb official said . he said mseb has
already asked the state government not to provide escrow to both the 447 - mw
patalganga and the 1 , 084 - mw coal - based bhadravati , " as the us energy major
has almost squeezed us of all over finances " . when contacted , mseb chairman
vinay bansal said : " reliance and ispat projects have been put on hold as per
the godbole committee ' s recommendations " , but expressed inability to give
further details .
currently , bhadravati and patalganga projects have been put on hold as per
godbole committee report , which was set up to review the dpc - mseb ppa and
energy scenario in maharashtra . " can you go ahead with the project without an
escrow cover ? " the committee was believed to have asked ispat and reliance
representatives , to which the reply had been negative , sources added .
sources said , as of now , both the projects have not been able to achieve
financial closure as leading financial institutions were not willing to
fund the projects which do not have a " guaranteed payment " mechanism from
mseb , which , incidentally it has promised to dpc . " all the three were cleared
as ' fast - track ' projects , but other than enron , reliance and ispat have been
caught in a quagmire , especially bhadravati , which has been hanging afire
since last nine years , " they added .
moreover , the mseb official opined that given the current situation , if dpc
calls it quits from india , bhadravati was a safer bet than reliance ' s
patalganga . patalganga ' s power would be mere 50 paise less than that of dpc ' s
that ranges anywhere around approximately rs 4 . 50 per unit to as high as rs
7 , while bhadravati ' s cost could be around rs 3 . 80 to rs 4 per unit , he
informed . mseb ' s installed capacity ended on march 31 , 2001 , wasl 4 , 000 mw and
it has generated 45 , 000 million units with transmission and distribution
losses as high as 39 per cent . ( pti )
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business standard , may 7 , 2001
global bankers ask govt to honour dpc obligations
tamal bandyopadhyay , surajeet dasgupta & santosh tiwary in mumbai / newdelhi
global arrangers for the dabhol power company have mounted fresh pressure on
the finance ministry to honour the union government  , s counter - guarantee and
have also set strict conditions for reconsidering the termination of the
power purchase agreement ( ppa ) between the dpc and the maharashtra state
electricity board ( mseb ) . in a related development , the dpc has sent a note
to all lenders saying they would have to bear the consequences of the turn
of events as they have prevented the dpc from serving the ppa termination
notice last month .
the lenders . in their turn , sent a statement - - prepared by the new
york - based legal firm white & case - - defending their stance saying they are
working in the best interest of the project . the lenders are expected to
meet in london over the next fortnight to take stock of the situation . the
deadline for resolving the issues are drawing to a close as 10 days of the
three - week reprieve have passed . at the dpc board meeting in london on may
25 , the lenders had managed to stall the issuance of the termination
notice and got three weeks  , time for themselves to convince the centre as
well as the maharashtra government to resolve the impasse on the
controversial project . in a letter to finance secretary ajit kumar dated
april 30 , the global arrangers said the government must own up its
responsibility and meet its obligations without further delay . among the
stiff conditions , set by the arrangers , are the demand that the central
government ensure payment of all the pending bills of mseb for december
2000 , january 2001 , february 2001 and march 2001 which remain unpaid
without any protest or reservation by may 7 ( monday ) .
any payment previously made under  & protest  8 should be made free and clear of
such protest or any other reservation , and the center should ensure timely
payment of future bills by mseb , they said . meanwhile , sources said that the
finance secretary was expected to meet the international lenders to the
dabhol projects in london stand on the issue . the lenders  , list of demands
also include asking mseb to take steps required under the existing
contracts to activate the escrow arrangements put in place at the time of
financial close of phase ii of the project by may 7 .
they have demanded that the union government and the maharashtra government
should take all required actions to ensure that no government agency will
take any step to impede the operation of phase i or the construction and
operation of phase ii without due cause . the lenders have also asked them to
ensure that the relevant customs authorities permit import of all goods and
equipment required for the project by may 21 . csfb , anz export finance ,
citi , bank of america and abn amro are the global arrangers for both phase i
as well as phase ii of the project .
the state bank of india , which is also a global arranger for phase ii , did
not sign the letter . " ten days have passed since the lenders bought three
weeks time from the company delaying its declaration of the termination of
the ppa . since then , nothing has moved at the material level barring mseb ' s
payment of the january bill to the tune of rs 134 crore under protest , " said
a source among the global arrangers . come forward to meet its obligations
the lenders are planning to meet around mid - may in london and this time
they will be left with no choice but to give the go - ahead to the company to
terminate the ppa unless the finance ministry comes forward to settle the
issue , the source added . the lenders are , however , not ready to take the
blame for any delay in the termination of ppa as implied by the company . the
white & case statement said the lenders are concerned about the fate of the
project and they are exploring all intermediate steps before choosing the
last option - - termination of ppa .
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business standard , saturday , 5 may , 2001
ge may pull out as dpc supplier , s ravindran in mumbai
after us - based bechtel , it is now the turn of general electric to review its
participation as equipment supplier to the controversial 2 , 184 - mw power
project in maharashtra , being set up by the dabhol power company . bechtel is
the epc contractor to the project while ge has supplied the equipment ,
primarily turbines . general electric , like bechtel , also holds 10 per cent in
dabhol power company ( dpc ) . and both bechtel and general electric are worried
about future payments from dpc . sources familiar with the project said that
so far dpc has not defaulted in its payments to general electric . what is
worrying general electric is the possible scenario after june 7 , when about
700 mw power will be commissioned after the second phase trial runs .
dpc and the maharashtra state electricity board ( mseb ) have been locked in a
payments dispute for months . if mseb continues with its stance , dpc in turn
may not be able to pay general electric . in such a situation , ge may walk out
of the project . a final decision will be taken only in june , said sources .
general electric did not respond to a faxed questionnaire sent by business
standard . senior executives at its public relations agency burson
marsteller roger pereira said that only dpc executives were authorised to
speak on the issue . the dpc spokesman declined to comment on the issue .
the first phase of the 740 mw has already been commissioned . after the second
phase of 1 , 444 mwis commissioned by december , 2001 , mseb will have to pay
dpc a minimum of rs 500 crore per month . the escrow account for this was to
have been made operational by april 7 , 2001 . mseb has refused to do this .
earlier , dpc had invoked the political force majeure clause in its contract
with the board . mseb is now arguing that the invocation of this clause has
absolved dpc of all its liabilities .
consequently , it will not operationalise the escrow account . this casts a
further shadow over dpc  , s ability to pay general electric and bechtel . this
is worrying the lenders to the project as well . the situation has taken a
turn for the worse with dpc practically refusing to re - negotiate the contract
for the second phase with the godbole panel constituted by the maharashtra
government .
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hindu businessline , may 5 , 2001
agenda for fresh talks with enron chalked out
officials of the state government , maharashtra state electricity board ( mseb )
and members of the madhav godbole committee , which recently submitted its
review on the dabhol power project , met here on saturday . the meeting was to
` ` chart the agenda for renegotiation with enron officials , ' ' a senior mseb
official said . enron officials were scheduled to attend this meeting but
backed out on may 3 . enron had informed the state government that it would
not accept the recommendations of the godbole committee .
` it is understandable that the company does not find the recommendations
acceptable . but the report is not bound to personal opinions , ' ' the official
said . the next meeting to decide the direction of renegotiation process with
enron is scheduled on may 11 .
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the economic times , may 6 , 2001
godbole panel meets sans dabhol representation
the godbole committee , set up for renegotiating the estranged power purchase
agreement between us energy major enron - promoted dabhol power company and the
state electricity board on saturday held its first internal meeting sans
representatives of the multinational . " it was an internal meeting to take
stock of the current situation and decide on matter pertaining to the may 11
meet with officials of enron , ge , bechtel and dpc ' s foreign lenders , " said
state government sources . the meeting , which lasted for almost four hours ,
discussed a strategy to present the committee ' s recommendations made public
last month , they said .
of the nine members of the committee , saturday ' s meeting was attended by five
members - - including godbole , mseb chairman vinay bansal , state energy
secretary v m lal , state finance secretary sudhir shrivastava and kirit
parekh of indira gandhi institute of developmental research . those absent
were hdfc chairman deepak parekh , teri director r k pachauri , former union
energy secretary eas sarma and yet - to - be - appointed representatives of the
centre and central electricity authority . the negotiating committee would
suggest solutions to bring down the exorbitant power tariff , separating of
the liquefied natural gas facility , restructuring of dpc and allowing sale of
excess power through central utilities mainly the national thermal power
corporation , said sources . ( pti
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the economic times , may 5 , 2001
ntpc not to buy power from enron : govt
the centre has ruled out the possibility of national thermal power
corporation buying power generated by us energy giant enron - promoted dabhol
power company . union power minister suresh prabhu is learnt to have stated
this during the meeting with maharashtra chief minister vilasrao deshmukh
last month , convened by the finance minister yashwant sinha to discuss the
enron crisis , said government sources on friday .
prabhu had pointed out that " there is no question of ntpc buying power from
the project since long - term power purchase agreements have been signed by
ntpc with the buying states " . maharashtra chief minister vilasrao deshmukh
during the meeting suggested that the central power utility sell the excess
power over and above the 300 - 400 mw needed for the state from the 740 mw
phase - i and soon - to - be - commissioned phase - ii of 1 , 444 - mw , to other needy
states . when contacted , prabhu said the entire controversy over payment
default by maharashtra state electricity board owing to high cost of power
generated by dpc had to be resolved between the state government , and dpc and
centre had very limited role to play . dpc has already slapped one
conciliation notice on the centre and three arbitration notices on the state
government over non - payment of dues amounting to rs 213 - crore - plus interest
rate towards bills due for the months of december 2000 and january 2001 . ( pti )
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the times of india , may 7 , 2001
mseb recovers rs 3 . 06 cr arrears in one day
in a special day - long drive , nagpur rural zone of maharashtra state
electricity board ( mseb ) has recovered rs 3 . 06 crore as arrears from the
defaulters who had to pay a handsome dividend , and disconnectedl 5 , 000
connections of erring customers last week . according to mseb sources , under
the drive , initiated by chief engineer manohar bapat , with the assistance of
about 5 , 000 employees including engineers , accounts staff and linesmen , a
door - to - door campaign was launched to meet 25 , 000 customers , leading to the
recovery of the dues . power supply to 15 , 000 customers were disconnected on
the spot due to non - payment of arrears in chandrapur , gadchiroli , wardha ,
bhandara , gondia and nagpur districts , it said in a release . the drive met
with stiff resistence from public and the police were called in at many
places to assist the powermen , it added .