Japanese corporate giant Sumitomo Corp, Malaysia's YTL Corp and Israel Electric are among six foreign bidders eyeing the 4,000 MW Andhra Pradesh ultra mega power project, which is also eagerly sought by 11 others, including NTPC, Tatas and Reliance.Power Finance Corporation, the nodal agency that conducts the bidding of ultra mega projects, has received 17 requests for qualification (RFQ), of which 6 are from foreign companies including Sumitomo Corp, Khanjee Holdings, USA and China Light and Power, for the Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) project, according to a government source.The Krishnapatnam project is the third of nine power plants that the state government has planned at an estimated cost of Rs 15,000-20,000 crore each.The deadline for submitting RFQs for the project, which would be operated with imported coal, was September 30. The project is expected to be transferred to the selected developer by April next year.The source said about a dozen bidders are the same as those in fray for the Sasan (Madhya Pradesh) and Mundra (Gujarat) projects. There are five new firms, including YTL Corp and Israel Electric Corp.Domestic companies in race for the Krishnapatnam project include Tata Power, Reliance Energy, Essar Power, GMR Energy, Larsen & Toubro, Lanco, Jindal Steel and AES India.PFC, which had earlier received 13 RFQs for Mundra and 15 for the Sasan project, is slated to sign Power Purchase Agreements with beneficiary states tomorrow.
