Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s Reliance Power today said it had tied up Rs 14,500 crore for the Sasan Ultra Mega Power project in Madhya Pradesh and about $500 million (about Rs 2,518 crore) would come from overseas.
The Sasan power project, which will generate 3,960 Mw of power on completion, will have 75:25 debt equity ratio. Nearly half-a-billion dollar debt will come from abroad, Reliance Power Chief Executive Officer JP Chalasani told the reporters.
The Rs 19,400-crore project, which will have 6x660 Mw thermal power generation units, is to go on stream by May 2013 with 2x660 Mw units becoming operational.
The financial closure achieved today will have the State Bank of India (SBI) as lead bank for rupee debt and the loan maturity would be 15-20 years, he said. Dollar debt is being raised through IIFC and Standard Chartered is to be appointed as the lead bank, he said.
Chalasani added that besides SBI, the other banks that facilitated the financial closure included IIFCL, PFC, PNB,LIC, Axis Bank, BoB, Union Bank of India, Andhra Bank and IDBI.
The debt would carry an average interest rate of 12-12.5 per cent, Chalasani said, adding this was the largest ever debt of Rs 14,500 crore raised for any project in the country.
This is the first integrated coal-based UMPP to be set-up in the country and using super-critical boiler technology, Chalasani said.
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The Chinese Shanghai Electric Company would supply boilers, turbines and generators for the project and the first consignment was almost ready for dispatch, he said.
Dismissing speculation that the project was not viable, he said, the levelised tariff per unit of electricity to be generated by the project was Rs 1.196 and the average tariff is to be around Rs 1.30 per unit.