P.S.DATTA, J. - (1.) M /S Tarini Infrastructure limited, a company under the Companies Act,1956 responded to the call of Narmada Water Resources, a statutory body under the Government of Gujarat for participation in the bids from private parties for building Small Hydro Power Generation Project in river Daman Ganga at Madhuban reservoir which is about 35 kilometres from Vapi in the district of Valsad, and was successful in getting its bid accepted and accordingly was awarded the Concession for building two Small Hydro Power Projects of 3 MW (2X 1500KW) and 2.6 MW ( 1X 2600 KW) at Daman Ganga. The 'Bid Document' was prepared and issued on 9.11.2006 by the Govt. of Gujarat. The Concession Agreement between the Narmada Water Resources and the appellant was executed on 27.8.2007 and the power plants were to be at a distance of 1km from each other and were to be connected to the nearest sub- station of the Respondent No. 1 Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd. (GUVNL) which is a successor entity of the erstwhile Gujarat Electricity Board, and the said sub-station according to the Bid Document issued by the Govt. of Gujarat was less than 4km from the dam. In terms of the Concession Agreement dated 27.8.2007 the project was to be completed within 24 Page 2 of 61 months. In terms of the Clause 3.1.3 of the Concession Agreement, the Appellant would be required to submit DPR to be prepared by a qualified consultant in accordance with the provisions of the Schedule 2 within four months of the Agreement. The Schedule 2 referred to are specifications and standards as specified in the RPF document of the project to be finalized in the DPR. The appellant in terms of the Concession Agreement submitted in July, 2007, a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the development of the two Small Hydro Power Projects. In terms of the DPR, the power can be stepped up to 11/33KV level at the switchyard of the generating station for further evacuation of the same to the nearest 66KV sub- station at Rakholi which is about 4Kms from the proposed powerhouse site. The Concession Agreement further provided that at the end of 35 years form the date of signing of the Concession Agreement the projects were to be transferred to Narmada Water Resources and through lease the appellant would utilise the project site, use water for generation of electricity and construct the projects and maintain the same. The appellant would have to pay a license fee of 0.23 paisa per unit of the electricity produced and transmit to the interconnection point.
(2.) IN terms of the DPR the total cost estimate of the two projects (without Interest During Construction) was Rs.3135 Lakh. On 29.1.2008 the appellant entered into a provisional Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Page 3 of 61 with the GUVNL. The appellant agreed to sell the contracted capacity to the GUVNL for a period of 35 years at Rs. 3.29 per KWH for the year 2007-2008 at the base rate which is subject to escalation of 3% per annum till the commercial operation date and this rate was fixed in terms of an order dated 14.6.2007 passed by the Commission in Petition No. 853 of 2005 for Small Mini Micro Hydel Projects. The appellant's project was the first one in this type of the sector before which no other small Hydel Project was established by any private bidder. In terms of the PPA the appellant was to construct the projects including the interconnection facility at its own cost and the interconnection point was at a distance of 4 kms from the generating station. The maintenance of the interconnection facility was at the cost of the appellant and in terms of the tender document power was to be evacuated from the nearest erstwhile GEB 11/66KV sub-station at Rakholi which was 4 km off the switchyard of the appellant. The transmission line from the delivery point in the plant switchyard to the sub-station of Gujarat Electricity Transmission Company was to be constructed at the cost of the appellant. Then a development took place. The Gujarat Electricity Transmission Company (GETCO) who is the respondent No. 3 in this Appeal informed the appellant at a later point of time that power could no longer be evacuated from Rakholi in Dadar and Nagar Haveli as the distribution in that Union Territory was not under the jurisdiction of the Gujarat Electricity Board, as such the appellant was now required to lay down a transmission line of 66 KV for a distance of 23 Km instead of 11/33KV for 4 Km as is stated DPR passing through the Union Territory of Dadar and Nagar Haveli and then connecting to sub-station at Mota Pondha in Gujarat. The cost of laying down the transmission line of 23 Km was estimated at Rs. 8.5Crore which was increased to Rs. 10 Crore as for laying down the transmission facility for evacuation of power the appellant was to coordinate with GETCO and finalize the evacuation arrangement including the appropriate sub-station.
(3.) THE construction of the project commenced on 24.11.2007 and the appellant requested for preliminary completion certificate on 25.8.2009 and finally after testing by the Independent Engineer the completion certificate was issued on 24.2.2010.;