A consortium of private and public sector Indian companies will execute the Rs 3000 crore second stage of the Tarapur Nuclear Power Plant. This is the first time the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has offered to contract out the entire execution of its plant.
The Tarapur expansion project marks the beginning of liberalisation in the nuclear power generation programme. Earlier, NPCIL was only subcontracting work to private companies.
The consortium, which includes Walchandnagar, L&T, Godrej and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel), will build two 250mw units to add to the already existing 320 mw capacity Tarapur plant. The technology, design, fuel and safety related aspects of the plant will be overlooked by NPCIL, official sources said. NPCIL and the concerned companies have agreed to set up a committee to concretise the consortium approach. Senior executives from the companies will be represented on the committee along with top NPCIL officials so that details of the consortium model are worked out quickly, the sources said.
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The consortium model seeks to complete the construction of the two 250mw units in six years starting mid-1998. The minimum time that NPCIL has taken so far to complete a plant is about 12 years. The Union government has made a commitment to provide 50 per cent of the project cost as equity. NPCIL plans to raise the rest as debt.
The consortium of private companies will be given clear deadlines for completing specific milestones of the project leading up to operationalisation in six years, the sources said. The sources said that the consortium model may be extended to fund the construction of future nuclear plants. NPCIL had an ambitious target of taking up projects worth Rs 10,000 crore every year for the next 10 years. This meant that the private sector could benefit from investing in nuclear power generation.