Parekh panel to decide future course of Sasan power plant

NEW DELHI: The government has extended the terms of reference of a committee headed by HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh to determine the future course of the Sasan ultra-mega power project. Although it is now almost certain that the Lanco-Globeleq consortium may be out of the project, a final call has to be taken on whether the project should be re-bid, or whether the second lowest bidder L2 be awarded the project. As of now, it is a divided house.

The decision to extend the terms of reference for the panel was taken at the Sasan Power board meeting held on Monday. The evaluation committee, which met on Friday, was of the view that the Globeleq-Lanco consortium could not be awarded the project any more. However, the committee was unable to formalise its view, given that its mandate came to an end with the award of the project. Sources said that the committee had referred the matter to the minister for power, saying that they didn’t have the mandate to take a final call on the legalities of the contract. Earlier, attorney general Milon Banerjee had suggested that the project be re-bid.

With the extended terms of reference, the committee will now have to decide on the future course of the mega power project. The sources said the government may prefer a re-bid. But what remains to be seen is whether the project will manage to attract such competitive tariffs again. The sources also said that the final power purchase agreements with the consumer states is yet to be signed.

Questions over the technical and financial capability of the consortium were raised after Globeleq Singapore was sold by parent company Globeleq. Globeleq is a subsidiary of DFID, a UK government agency for investments in the developing nations.