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'God's biggest blessing if Enron pulls out of Dabhol'

It would be a blessing for Maharashtra government if the US energy major Enron pulls out of the controversial Dabhol Power project, state energy minister Padamsinh Patil said on Monday.

"It will be God's biggest blessing for us," Patil told reporters in Bombay when his attention was drawn to Enron chairman Kenneth Lay's statement the other day that Enron wants to pull out of the controversy-ridden DPC in coastal Konkan.

On reports in a section of the media that he was adopting a pro-Enron stance, Patil said that he was neither for nor against Enron. "But any decision to resolve the imbroglio should be taken keeping in view the state's interests."

He said four states have evinced interest in purchasing power generated by DPC, provided the tariff per unit was below Rs 2.50. Elaborating further, Patil said Madhya Pradesh was willing to buy 100 mw, Karnataka 300 mw, Delhi 150 mw and Haryana 100 mw.

The state was not in a position to absorb power from phase II of the project and there was an urgent need for the Centre to intervene in the matter, the energy minister reiterated.

"If the Maharashtra State Electricity Board purchases 60 per cent of the total power generated from phase II of DPC, the cost of power per unit would be Rs 6 while it would be Rs 4 per unit if 90 per cent of the generated electricity was purchased. Even Rs 4 per unit is costly for us," Patil said.

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