Source - ET
Monnet Ispat & Energy plans a 3,000 MW power generation capacity in the next five years by leveraging its Indian and Indonesian coal blocks. Besides, the company is in talks with Chinese and Italian firms for design and technical collaboration to foray into pre fabricated steel business. Mr Sandeep Jajodia executive vice chairman and managing director talks to ET's Sarita Singh on plans for power, steel and coal mining sectors.
Q - What are your plans for the power business given the fuel and finance constraints the sector is faced with?
A - We target to scale up our power generation capacity to 3,000 MW by 2017. We are looking for coastal sites in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat to set up projects that can be fuelled by our Indonesian coalmine. Presently we are implementing a 1,050 MW thermal power plant at Angul in Orissa at an investment of INR 9,000 crore. The project is fueled by specifically allocated coalmines and would be one of the low-cost generating stations in the world since there are no transportation costs involved.
Funds are in place and contracts have been signed for sale of entire power at an average tariff of INR 2.80 per unit. The project is targeted to be commissioned by June 2013. Another 660 MW expansion project is planned at the same site and is expected to be commissioned by December 2014. We are confident that will not face any problem if funds are needed, as banks are keen to lend given the strong credentials of the company and the project.
Q - When is your Indonesian coal mine likely to begin production and do you plan to sell coal in India?
A - Our Indonesian coalmine is set to start production by June 2013. We plan to trade excess coal after consumption in 1,200 MW-1,300 MW planned power plants. As the mine is located in Sumatra , the logistic costs would be less for transporting coal to India. It is a safe and secured asset spread over 25,000 hectares land of which only 1,500 hectares has been explored with established 65 million tonnes reserves. We expect these reserves to go up substantially after complete exploration of the total area.
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