Krishnapatnam unlikely to meet deadline; fresh bids for Tilaiya

The 4,000 MW Krishnapatnam Ultra Mega Power Project in Andhra Pradesh is unlikely to be awarded within the next two months as envisaged by the government.

NEW DELHI: The 4,000 MW Krishnapatnam Ultra Mega Power Project in Andhra Pradesh is unlikely to be awarded within the next two months as envisaged by the government, owing to changes made in the bid documents.

Sources said nine companies including Reliance Energy, Tata Power and NTPC Ltd, remained in race for procuring the project, as four pulled out. Other prominent firms include Larsen and Toubro, Essar Power, Sterlite Industries, D S Construction, CLP-GMR combine and Japan's Sumitomo Corp.

The government has made changes in the bid documents to tighten norms on changes in equity holding in bidding consortia and plug-in a few other loopholes after the Sasan issue, which stretched to seven months.

As per the norms, the bidders should be given about two-month time to approve the changes in the documents, which may lead to further extension of the deadline.

Earlier this week, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the first stage of bidding for Krishnapatnam plant would be completed in one-two months. The government has already missed the September 21 deadline for submitting price bids for the project.

However, sources said the government is urging the bidders to approve the revised documents within 15 days.

"The changes have been conveyed to the bidding companies... the government has urged the bidders to approve the revised documents in the next 15 days," they said.

Meanwhile, Power Finance Corporation, the nodal agency for the ultra mega projects, today invited fresh bids for the 4,000 MW pit head Tilaiya Ultra Mega Power Project in Jharkhand.

Jharkhand Integrated Power Ltd, PFC's wholly-owned subsidiary, invited proposals for establishing the project on build, own and operate basis, according to the company's notice seeking bids.

The bidding would be a two-stage process - Request for Qualification and Request for Proposal. Companies can procure RfQ documents till November 5 and submit these preliminary bidding papers by November 12.

The fuel for the project will be sourced from allocated mines at North Karanpura coal fields. The power plant and development of mine entails an investment of an estimated Rs 20,000 crore.

The government has awarded two ultra mega power projects -- Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and Mundra in Gujarat -- to Reliance Power Ltd and Tata Power.

The request for qualification document for Tilaiya project can be obtained till November 5 while the last date for its submission is November 12.

Both the projects were earlier affected by a delay in a decision on Sasan ultra mega power project, which has been awarded to Reliance Power Ltd after a bid by Lanco Infratech and Globeleq was disqualified.