State-owned hydropower giant NHPC is in focus. Reports earlier this month said that the company has proposed to take over four private sector projects in the North East. To discuss this, their expansion plans, and power demand trajectory, CNBC-TV18 spoke to AK Singh, chairman and MD of the company.

On increasing capacity, Singh said, “We are already working on active construction of 6,000 megawatt and all these projects are going to come in 3-4 years. We are interested in these four projects, we have sent the intent also. We are discussing with the state government, in consultation with the ministry, and we are definitely going to take these projects.”

He further said, “There is no question of viability, the question is of competence. The private people don’t have that much experience in hydropower projects. That is the reason they couldn't do it. As per our competence and we have worker availability also, so definitely there is no issue. So NHPC is asking the state government to take over this project with some mutual decisions.”

On capex plan, Singh said, “For this, we have a capex of roughly Rs 8,000-9,000 crore per year and for the next 10 years, we have a capex plan of around Rs 1,00,000 crore. We have a very strong balance sheet, there is no issue of the capex and if more capex is required, we can arrange the money also.”

On receivables, he said, “Considering 45-days, we have around Rs 3,350 crores and hopefully during this month only, we are going to get around Rs 2,000 crore. So, receivables is not an issue, it has been released and ministry is already very proactive.”

For full interview, watch accompanying video.

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(Edited by : Dipika)

First Published:Sept 23, 2021 1:13 PM IST