Chief minister Arjun Munda with RPG group vice-chairman Sanjeev Goenka at the MoU-signing ceremony in Ranchi. Picture by Ashok Karan

Ranchi, Sept. 15: In what must rank as one of the swiftest agreements over an MoU, CESC Ltd., an RPG group company, today sealed its offer to set up three power plants in the state with a combined generating capacity of 1,000 MW.

Sanjeev Goenka, vice-chairman of the RPG group, said he had met chief minister Arjun Munda barely 10 days ago in Calcutta and was enthused by his dynamism. The MoU had been drafted and agreed upon in less than 10 days, he pointed out, and declared this will be the group?s first, but not the last, investment in Jharkhand.

Praising the speed at which everything was finalised, and lauding Munda for instilling confidence in investors within a very short time, Goenka said the RPG group would explore possibilities of investing in other areas as well. CESC, he pointed out, has the experience of supplying power to both Calcutta and Noida and also has diversified interests.

The government, he said, had offered CESC three sites in Godda, Latehar and Chandil, besides a coal-mine in Godda for the three units to be set up, one with an installed capacity of 500 MW and two more with 250 MW each.

The site will be finalised within six months, he assured, and the project completed in two phases. The first 250 MW unit would be commissioned by January 2010 and the last one by December 2011.

Reminded that many MoUs signed in the past have lapsed, Goenka declared that the RPG group is not only committed to the project, but the oldest power utility in the country would set it up as a showpiece with PLF (plant load factor) of up to 95 per cent.

The project, Goenka added, will be funded from internal resources, equity and loans. Raising funds for the project, he assured, would not pose a problem for the group.

Goenka was caught on the wrong foot when he was asked why the MoU the group had signed with Bihar in the nineties had fallen through. Pleading ignorance, he parried it and said, the ?system? in the group has changed.

Thanking Goenka for the interest shown, chief minister Munda said his government was determined to make Jharkhand a power-hub by 2010 with sufficient installed capacity to enable the state to export surplus power. He also confirmed that talks were going on with Tata Powers, too, for setting up plants.

Sources indicated that besides the MoU, the government had reached a tacit understanding with CESC by which the RPG group company will become the first private player to be handed over power-distribution rights in the state. The company, the sources claimed, would initially take over the distribution rights in the capital and gradually elsewhere in the state.

The chief minister announced that power distribution would be privatised by November 15 this year. December 9 happens to be the extended deadline allowed to the state to trifurcate the Jharkhand State Electricity Board. SBI Caps is the consultant overseeing the process and the government felt that CESC Ltd, which has the experience of handling 20 lakh consumers in Calcutta and Noida, was ideally placed to handle the task in the state, too.

CESC has already been allowed in the MoU to directly supply power to bulk consumers at mutually agreed tariff and terms.

Government sources claimed that the recent MoUs signed with the Tatas, who pledged to invest Rs 53000 crore in the state, have turned the tide in favour of the state and has successfully projected Munda as an investment-friendly chief minister.

Sources claimed that Munda has a breakfast meeting lined up with Anil Ambani in Mumbai on September 20 and that Reliance Energy, too, had evinced interest in setting up power plants in the state.