Malaysian gets a power shock in AP

By Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: The Chief Minister's Office (CMO) is busy these days desperately trying to trace the address of a Malaysian power producer who came calling to set up a thermal power station in the state.
The Malaysian power producer first met Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy early this year for giving a brief about his plans. "I am ready to set up a 2000-MW thermal power plant near any upcoming port in Andhra Pradesh. I have an investment of 600 million dollars ready and have coal mines in Indonesia, from where I shall import the coal by sea. I don't need any other assistance from the AP government except land for setting up the power plant," the Malaysian told the Chief Minister.
The Chief Minister was impressed but insisted that the Malaysian not press for any power purchase agreement with the state and could sell the power anywhere else. The Malaysian agreed to this and said he has no problems on this count as the Power Trading Corporation of India was ready to buy electricity from him. Having heard the plans, the Chief Minister promptly asked the power producer to meet the "Chinna sir" (junior sir), as is customary. (Now, everybody knows who this Chinna sir is and the authority he wields in the current dispensation).
Accordingly, the Malaysian approached the "Chinna sir" with his project proposals. "Since a new port is coming up at Krishnapatnam, I would like to set up the power plant in its vicinity," the Malaysian told the Chinna sir. "No way," the Chinna sir made it clear, as two major power plants were already proposed at the same location.
The Malaysian then bargained for Visakhapatnam or Machilipatnam, where too another port is being developed. The Chinna sir was "not impressed" and negated these proposals. By then the government had already approved a plan for power plant at Machilipatnam, under the aegis of a ruling party MP.
Later, the power producer approached the Chief Minister once again to apprise him of the situation and seek an alternative location. Rajasekhara Reddy, however, did not show any interest and asked the Malaysian to meet the 'Chinna sir' again.
Distraught, the Malaysian gave up his plans and went away.
All this happened more than six months ago when the power scenario in the state was not alarming as it has been now. But, with the situation going out of hand, the government has become desperate and started looking at all avenues to boost the power generation. Hence, the search for new power producers, particularly the ones who come with no "liabilities" like the compulsory power purchase agreement.
"We never really took any details from the Malaysian man though he met the Chief Minister a couple of times. Ironically, we don't even know his name to get in touch again," a senior official in the CMO lamented.
Even Google hasn't been of much help to the CMO authorities!