NEW DELHI-Power Plan in Hock

NEW DELHI Power Plan in Hock B M THE fiasco of the Paradip-Dakari steel project in Orissa and the cancellation of the arrangements for turnkey construction and total financing of the project by foreign interests do not seem to have made the government any the wiser, The principal reason for the cancellation of the arrangement was the belated discovery that the cost of the project would be bloated on account of high cost of equipment and services from a single tied source of supply. But the Energy Ministry is still insisting that even if it might be advisable to postpone construction of a steel plant till more acceptable terms of collaboration and assistance from foreign sources might be negotiated, it has to go in for similar arrangements in a hurry for the erection of large power generation units if it is to achieve the Sixth Plan power target. According to the Energy Ministry, it cannot mobilise sufficient rupee resources for achieving the target and the only alternative is to attract foreign financing of the power programme.