Bengal offers to renegotiate PPA for JSW's Salboni project.

In the wake of Sajjan Jindal's recent announcement to put the Rs. 35,000-crore integrated steel, power and cement project at Salboni on hold, the West Bengal government is now ready to renegotiate power purchase agreement (PPAs) for the project, which it had cancelled earlier.

'We are ready to renegotiate with JSW for the PPAs if they are interested do the project. They should show the keenness to take forward the project,' West Bengal power minister Manish Gupta told Business Standard.

With West Bengal turning into a power surplus state, partially due to lack of industrial activity, the state government had earlier in the year cancellled some of the power purchase agreements (PPA) with combined capacity of 1,000MW, including a 300 MW PPA with JSW.

'If PPA is the problem, we are ready to renegotiate. JSW should show the right intention to take forward the project,' Gupta added. JSW Steel did not respond to state government's offer renegotiate the PPA once again.

If the PPAs are once again put in place, this would provide a lifeline for the project, as JSW Steel may be in a position to kick start the project with the power plant. The assurance from the state government may also prompt the company to aggressively bid for the coal block.

BS