State’s 60.08% share in Sikkim Urja Ltd is intact: Power minister

BIJOY GURUNG

Power minister demands apology from SDF leader for “misguiding people”
GANGTOK,: Power minister MN Sherpa on Tuesday stressed that the Sikkim government’s 60.08% share in the 1200 Mw Sikkim Urja Ltd (former Teesta Urja Ltd) is “intact and not a single share has been sold”.
“The Sikkim government’s share in Sikkim Urja Ltd is intact at 60.08% as it was in 2019. Not a single share owned by the State government has been sold. This I say with full responsibility and based on documents as the Power minister,” said Sherpa in a press meet at Power Secretariat.
He was refuting “mindless” allegations made by former minister and SDF leader Tshering Wangdi Lepcha.
The opposition leader had claimed that the Sikkim government has sold 40% share of Sikkim Urja Ltd to a Mauritius-based private company.
“It is unfortunate that the former minister tried to misguide the people with his lies and also tried to discredit the Power department. He should apologize to the people for his highly irresponsible statements,” said the Power minister.
“The fact is that the Sikkim government is the majority shareholder with 60.08% shares in Sikkim Urja Ltd and the remaining shares belong to private investors. These private investors, as per the agreement, are allowed to buy-sell their shares with others,” said Sherpa.
According to Sherpa, the remaining shares are currently owned by two private companies with the Mauritius-based company having around 34.30% shares.
The Power minister asked the SDF leader to visit the website of Ministry of Corporate Affairs where he can easily get full details about Sikkim Urja Ltd and its shareholders.
According to the Power minister and senior Power officials, construction work of 1200 Mw HEP in Chungthang, North Sikkim started in 2008 with an estimated cost of Rs. 5700 crore. The project was based on a BOOT (build, own, operate, transfer) basis with the Sikkim government entitled to 12% free power. The agreement was for 35 years, after which the project was to be handed over to the State government.
Due to cost overruns and delays, the Teesta-III HEP was completed and commissioned only in February 2017 at a cost of Rs. 13,965 crore. By then, the Sikkim government had enhanced its equity stake by purchasing 60.08% shares to become the majority shareholder.
Minister Sherpa maintained that the then State government inexplicably purchased the shares at vastly inflated prices by taking a loan of over Rs. 2700 crore. Besides this huge loan, the previous government also stood as a guarantor for the Rs. 11,000 crore loan taken by Teesta Urja Ltd, he said.
“At the moment, the State government is not earning anything from the project as our share of free power is directly sold to companies to repay the loans and interest. This is manageable during the monsoon period when the project runs to its full capability. During the lean months, the power generated is not enough to repay the loans and interest. Hence, the State government has to take loans from the State Bank of Sikkim now and then to pay the loans. If we default, the Sikkim Urja Ltd automatically becomes a Non-Performing Asset (NPA),” said the Power minister.
“After our SKM government was formed, Chief Minister PS Golay has been making all efforts to prevent our prized Sikkim Urja Ltd from being declared as a NPA. We have cut down all the unnecessary expenses, convinced the Central agencies to bring down their rate of interest and took all steps so that we do not default on loan repayment to save this mega power project,” said Sherpa.