Delay ups Ennore power project cost

The 660 MW Ennore Thermal Power Station (ETPS) expansion project, which has been witnessing strong opposition from the local people, saw the construction cost going up by 62 per cent to Rs 6,380 crore due to inordinate delay.

As part of Tangedco’s massive generation capacity addition plan, the ETPS expansion project was the first project to be awarded the engineering procurement construction contract to Lanco Infra Tech Ltd in May 2014 at the cost of Rs 3,921 crore with a deadline to commission the project by 2018.

According to Tangedco, the total revised project cost is Rs 6,380 crore with interest during construction. “The cost will go up further as the project work was hit due to the expiry of the environment clearance. The public hearing for the fresh environment clearance is getting delayed due to the third wave of the COVID-19,” the Tangedco sources added.

A representative of a trade union in Tangedco said Lanco was awarded the EPC contract even though it was facing financial issues. 

“In 2018, Lanco’s contract was terminated owing to poor performance, and corporate insolvency and bankruptcy process initiated against it. It brought the slow-progressing works to a complete standstill. Later, Tangedco awarded BGR a contract to complete the project. BGR had a history of executing the 600 MW Mettur Thermal Power Station Stage III after a huge delay leading to heavy losses,” the union leader said, adding that even before the BGR could start work on the Ennore project, Tangedco cancelled the letter of intent given to the private company last year. 

“All the delay happened because of the poor management of Tangedco’s top officials and the then electricity minister. Now Tangedco will incur the losses due to this,” he added.