Hyderabad, Dec 07: Accusing Andhra Pradesh government of extending undue concessions to big business houses, state Congress today demanded cancellation of Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with BPL for 500 mw project at Ramagundam. “As per the PPA, the cost per Mega Watt (MW) works out to Rs four crore while government units like NTPC are generating power for a far lesser price,” leader of opposition Y S Rajsekhar Reddy told reporters here. Alleging that BPL's fixed cost per unit would be Rs two per unit while the prevailing rate is less than Rs one, Reddy said an open debate can be held with experts to find out if power can be generated at a lesser price than that of BPL.
The state should also evolve a mechanism to make best use of the new gas find in Krishna-Godavari basin and see how it reaches the common man at affordable prices, he said.
The coal-based BPL project, which initially promised to achieve financial closure by 1995, appears to take three more years to complete by which time the mw cost may touch Rs 6.5 crore, Reddy said and demanded cancellation of the PPA as promoters of the project are being unduly benefited by the delay and the concessions given in PPA.

Bureau Report