The Times of India 25.04.2013
Planning board suggests review of concessionaire agreement recommended
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The planning board has recommended that the clauses in the concessionaire agreement for the proposed Chalai waste-to-energy plant
should be examined in detail before going ahead with the project. The
recommendation was made at a meeting convened by planning board
vice-chairman K M Chandrasekhar to discuss the flaws in the agreement.
The city corporation had, two days ago, decided to abstain itself from signing the agreement following a legal opinion that warned it of dangerous clauses in the agreement. Earlier this month, the representatives of the state government had admitted that the Rs 60-crore project had run into troubles at a meeting convened by planning commission deputy chairman in New Delhi.
Sources said the meeting also touched upon possibilities to evolve fault-free project models in the state with minimum risk. It stressed the need to analyse the clauses in the project agreement before proceeding with any plan besides reiterating some suggestions made at the Delhi meet.
As per the minutes of the Delhi meeting available with TOI, it was stated that the ministry of new and renewable energy provides repayable grant of up to Rs 2 crore per MW, subject to a maximum of Rs 10 crore, for each waste-to-energy plant.
Besides, the ministry of finance also provides viability gap funding support up to 20% of the project cost. In addition, customs and excise duty concessions are also provided for such projects. ''We will have another round of discussions on the future of Chalai project. As of now, we had preliminary discussions on incorporating success models as well as generating the pool of fund with the assistance of the central government,'' an official said.
The government had, in the wake of the Delhi meet, decided to seek the technical expertise of the PPP and infrastructure division of planning commission for such projects in future.
The city corporation had, two days ago, decided to abstain itself from signing the agreement following a legal opinion that warned it of dangerous clauses in the agreement. Earlier this month, the representatives of the state government had admitted that the Rs 60-crore project had run into troubles at a meeting convened by planning commission deputy chairman in New Delhi.
Sources said the meeting also touched upon possibilities to evolve fault-free project models in the state with minimum risk. It stressed the need to analyse the clauses in the project agreement before proceeding with any plan besides reiterating some suggestions made at the Delhi meet.
As per the minutes of the Delhi meeting available with TOI, it was stated that the ministry of new and renewable energy provides repayable grant of up to Rs 2 crore per MW, subject to a maximum of Rs 10 crore, for each waste-to-energy plant.
Besides, the ministry of finance also provides viability gap funding support up to 20% of the project cost. In addition, customs and excise duty concessions are also provided for such projects. ''We will have another round of discussions on the future of Chalai project. As of now, we had preliminary discussions on incorporating success models as well as generating the pool of fund with the assistance of the central government,'' an official said.
The government had, in the wake of the Delhi meet, decided to seek the technical expertise of the PPP and infrastructure division of planning commission for such projects in future.
