I remember peering through the rain lashed windscreen of a helicopter as we came in for landing at Enron's infamous power generation site at Dabhol. Despite the monsoon winds and accompanying turbulence, the ride was exhilirating, mostly for the amazing scenery just below us, the virgin Konkan coastline that is India's west coast. The year was 1995 I think.
The site was awash with activity, with the usual hubub of construction machinery, excavated earth and helmeted workers. The pace seemed impressive, though litigation would soon bring it to a grinding halt. As I looked around and now think back, one question has kept nagging me, in the air, on the ground, then and now. Why was this power plant here, in the middle of nowhere ?
There were many sound answers provided by the powers that be. One reason was the power plant would run on gas or naptha which could be best procured if the ships came right upto the coast and unloaded the energy source. Or it would come via pipelines fr…
The site was awash with activity, with the usual hubub of construction machinery, excavated earth and helmeted workers. The pace seemed impressive, though litigation would soon bring it to a grinding halt. As I looked around and now think back, one question has kept nagging me, in the air, on the ground, then and now. Why was this power plant here, in the middle of nowhere ?
There were many sound answers provided by the powers that be. One reason was the power plant would run on gas or naptha which could be best procured if the ships came right upto the coast and unloaded the energy source. Or it would come via pipelines fr…