Lanco Infra achieves financial closure for hydel project

V. Rishi Kumar

Hyderabad, Aug. 10 Lanco Infratech has achieved financial closure for the 76-MW Phata-Byung project of subsidiary Lanco Hydro Energies, which is setting the unit up on the Mandakini, a headstream of the Ganga, in Uttarkhand.

The project, estimated to cost Rs 520 crore, would be financed through debt of Rs 416 crore and equity of Rs 104 crore provided by a consortium of five banks led by Axis Bank. PNB, Canara Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Dena Bank are the other members in the consortium.

The Chief Financial Officer of Lanco Infratech, Mr J. Suresh Kumar, told Business Line recently, “This project will be ready for commissioning by December 2011. We expect more power projects to achieve financial closure by December.”

The company is implementing hydel projects with a total capacity of about 840 MW and expects all of them to be commissioned by 2013, he said. It has achieved financial closure for most of the hydel projects, including the 500-MW Teesta project, the biggest of the company’s hydel projects.

The company is implementing several hydel projects, including the 70-MW Lanco Green Power and the 10-MW Vamshi Power.

Lanco Hydro Energies had bagged the mandate to set up the Phata-Byung and Rambara projects through a competitive bidding process. It has signed an implementation agreement with the Uttarakhand Government.