GVK to exit Punjab power plant

GVK Power & Infrastructure is planning to sell its under construction 540 MW Goindwal Sahib power plant in Punjab to NTPC. The project expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2014-15, has a 25 year power purchase agreement with the Punjab State Power Commission. The plant has coal linkages with the Tokisud and Seregarha mines from Jharkhand and has a set-up cost of Rs 2,000 crore. Recently, NTPC has issued an expression of interest (EoI) to buy coal-based power plants, whether operational, commissioned, synchronised, under construction or under planning stages. NTPC owns and operates 22 power plants and has a generation capacity of 42,400 MW around a fifth of India’s total installed capacity.