Infrastructure firms to exit Himachal Pradesh hydro project

Infrastructure firms NCC and IL&FS Engineering will completely exit from the hydro electric project they are jointly building on the River Sorang in Himachal Pradesh.

The IL&FS Joint MD Arun K Saha said the company has transferred its holding in the project in favour of a trust, which is currently in the process of divesting the holding in alliance with NCC.

IL&FS will exit all those assets transferred in favour of a Trust and reinvest the proceeds in ongoing and new projects. NCC, which has three power projects and five road projects under BOT mode through the holding company NCC Infra, is looking at exiting many assets to get back around Rs 2,000 crore of its equity investments.

The 100-mw power project was coming up at an investment of Rs 849.8 crore. Close to 85% of works was completed  and the project was scheduled to take off by year-end. NCC holds 67% equity in Himachal Sorang Power, the special purpose vehicle, while IL&FS Engineering holds the balance of 33%.

The run-of-river hydro project was meant to supply power to certain power-starved industrial belts in Himachal Pradesh and other northern regions.

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