Uncertainty looms large over the Rs 5000 crore 1050 Mw thermal power project of KVK Nilachal Power (P) Ltd. at Kandarei in Cuttack district with the state government asking the company to submit more details regarding the departure of beleaguered firm, Maytas Infra as an equity partner in the project.
The government has asked the company to provide documents like cancellation of the shareholders’ agreement with Maytas. Besides, the state government has asked KVK Nilachal Power to furnish equity holding data from Registrar of Companies (RoC) and details of prospective equity investors, who have assured to invest in the project.
In another significant development, the state government has decided to inquire into the alleged irregularities in land acquisition by the company as pointed out by sub-collector, Athagrh and Collector, Cuttack. The revenue department has been requested by the energy department to conduct the enquiry and submit report to the government.
It may be noted that the field level revenue officials had communicated the government that the company had purchased some government land as private land. Similarly, the company had purchased about 188 acres of forest land before 8 December 2008. Since, this land was purchased by the company before the state government gave it permission for the purchase under the provisions of the Orissa Land Registration Act, 1973 (C), the government will examine whether ceiling rules will be applicable in this case.
The government will decide the fate of the project after the company submits all the required documents and the enquiry is completed. The company officials have so far held three rounds of discussions with the officials of the state government after the involvement of Maytas, a sister concern of Satyam, in the project was reported in the media following the Satyam fraud exposure. Though the company has submitted some papers on its equity holding, the government is far from being satisfied with these documents.. The Rs 5000 crore project was supposed to have 20 percent equity and 80 percent debt component initially. Out of the Rs 1000 crore equity, Rs 510 crore was to come from both the partners in the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed between Hyderabad based KVK Energy and Infrastructure and Maytas on a 50:50 equity partnership basis. The remaining Rs 490 crore was to come from strategic investors. However, the company has given a revised estimate of Rs 4500 crore for the project, in the changed scenario.
“We have asked them to submit some additional documents and the government will take a decision only after the submission of the required documents and the report about the irregularities in the land acquisition is submitted”, an official associated with the process said.