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Nava Bharat Ventures Ltd is close to achieving financial closure for its coal mine-cum-thermal power project in Zambia. (Maamba Collieries)
The Zambian mine project is set to begin work on the 300-MW thermal power plant.
According to D. Ashok, Chairman, the company’s subsidiary expects to achieve financial closure for the long-term debt finance of $560 million of the $800-million project.
In a communication to shareholders and exchanges, he mentioned that they were seeking participation of leading development financial institutions such as African Development Bank and some Chinese lenders.
He said that other overseas projects are in various stages of development under the Singapore subsidiary.
Referring to the company’s performance in the first-half of this financial year ended September 30, Ashok said the performance was satisfactory when reviewed in the backdrop of challenges and seasonal patterns resulting in drop in profits. The company posted a lower net profit of Rs 97.4 crore during the first half against Rs 127.5 crore for the same period last year.
The company expects the 150-MW unit of the subsidiary, which commenced merchant power operations from April, will add to the numbers. However, in the first-half of this fiscal, the merchant power rates were lower, in spite of the huge power demand-supply gap. This was due to the weak financial health of State utilities to purchase power.
Mentioning about the ferro alloys division, the company stated that due to supply constraints of chrome ore, ferro chrome conversion had to be stopped for almost four months, depriving the company of value addition for power through captive use.
