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By 2017, we aim to become a 4,000 Mw company: H K Sharma, CMD, SJVNL

Makarand Gadgil     

Hemant Kumar Sharma, CMD SJVNL

What is SJVNL’s capacity addition programme for the 11th and 12th plans?     

At present our total installed capacity is 1,500 Mw; by the end of the 12th plan we aim to become a 4,000 Mw company. The first project to be commissioned will be Rampur 412 Mw, which will become operational in 2013.  It will be followed by the 775 Mw Luhari and 66 Mw Dhaulasidh projects. Besides these, we have been awarded projects worth 363 Mw in Uttarakhand by the central government. Detailed project reports for these projects have been finalised and the work is expected to start very soon. In 2008, we bagged a 900 Mw project called Arun III in Nepal; the DPR of the project is getting finalised and we expect to start work in the second half of the year. Besides these, the ministry of power has asked us to carry out investigations and surveys on two projects in Bhutan for 1386 Mw. The company is also a 26 per cent stakeholder in the 1,500 Mw Tipaimukh project in Manipur. (The majority stake in the project is held by NHPC.) All projects other than Rampur will begin being commissioned 2016 onwards.     

What is the total investment that these projects will require? And how you are going to finance these investments?
An investment of around Rs 24,000 crore will be required to complete the project.  And we will be financing the projects through 70:30 debt equity ratio. The equity portion will come through internal accruals and the debt will be raised from the market as and when required. We can easily finance our equity portion through our internal accruals as we are a cash rich company and have reserves of Rs 1,500 crore on our books.     

If that is so, why your company is going for the IPO? And what will be the shareholding pattern post issue?
Our IPO is a part of the government’s divestment programme. No fresh equity will be issued, the central government will divest. The Government of India is offering 41.5 crore or 10 per cent equity of the company. After divestment the government’s stake will be 65 per cent, Himachal Pradesh government’s stake will be 25 per cent and rest will held by the public. Another reason for going for an IPO is that listing a company brings greater transparency in its working and it offers us a chance to share the wealth of company with the people of country, who are the real owners of the company.     

It has been the general experience that issues related to R&R and environment result in major delays for hydro power projects. What is your view?
We take utmost care while designing the project that our interference with the ecology of the areas in which our projects are coming up is minimal. And we can claim that our R&R policies are the best in the country, even better than the national R&R policy. Because of these two reasons, we have managed to raise loans from multilateral agencies like the World Bank which follow very strict norms for financing the projects.     

Recently, government of India announced a “No Go” areas in certain parts of Uttarakhand for power or other infrastructure projects. Do any of your projects in Uttarakhand fall in these areas?     

Luckily, none of our projects are affected because of this new policy. As our projects are on the Jamuna and its tributaries and government restrictions are for the Ganges and its tributaries like the Bhagirathi. One of our projects is on the Alaknanda which is a tributary of Ganges but that project is not affected by the new rules.     

You claimed you are unique a hydro power company in many ways; please elaborate.     

The plant load factor for our company is above 50 per cent, we surpass national average by 15 per cent. Our plant availability factor is 98 per cent which is an achievement on a worldwide level.  The reason for higher availability of plant is that by adopting best Operations and Maintenance practices and innovating them to suit our conditions, we have reduced down time for maintenance from average 50 days in a year to 10 days.

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