Anpara C project under Mayawati's scanner

Hyderabad-based private power company Lanco Kundapalli's 1,000-Mw Anpara C power project, in Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, has come under the scanner of Chief Minister Mayawati.

This follows her order to review the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's 1,200-acre special economic zone in Noida and the gas-based power plant in Dadri.

The state government has ordered a review of the process of the award of the project to the private sector through a tariff-based bidding process. Lanco Kundapalli is promoted by Vijaywada Congress Member of Parliament L Rajagopal.

Official sources said Mayawati wanted to know why the offer of the Japanese firm Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for funding the project was rejected.

The project has been controversial since the previous government decided to give it to the private sector after rejecting a soft loan deal with the JBIC. JBIC had agreed to fund up to 85 per cent of the project cost (around Rs 3,000 crore) at an interest rate of Rs 1.3 per cent payable over a period of 30 years.

The review was ordered following objections of power unions including the All India Power Engineers Federation.