Five bidders in NHPC hydel project race

As many as five bidders have expressed their interest in bagging the Rs 9000 crore Subansiri hydel power project undertaken by National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC).

Public sector power equipment giant, Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd with four other multinational corporations have bid for the project. The MNCs in the fray are General Electric, Alstom, UK based WestingHouse and Canada's Voith.

The 8x250 hydel power project is one of the largest such projects being undertaken in the country.The project is also being funded by the World Bank.It is scheduled to be completed by December 2011 and would have a generation capacity of 2000MW in all.

At present the company is evaluating technical bids from these companies. Financial bids are expected to be invited a couple of months from now, said sources close to the development. NHPC has firmed up plans of tapping overseas markets to part finance the 2,000 MW Subansiri project. It is eyeing US and Europe and looking to raise about Rs 1,200 crore.

Of the estimated cost of Rs 9,000 crore for commissioning Subansiri, about Rs 2,100 crore would come in the form of equity from the government and the remaining would be funded by the domestic and foreign sources.

NHPC is one of the largest organisation for hydro-power development in India having constructed 11 hydro-power projects in India and abroad with a total installed capacity of 2554.35 MW. With an asset value of Rs 20,000 crore, NHPC has planned to add 4357 MW of power during Xth plan and 15208 MW of power during XIth plan. NHPC's capabilities include the complete spectrum of hydropower development from concept to commissioning.

The Subansiri project is part of the XIIth plan period expansion.NHPC will invest Rs 25,000 crore in the next three years to achieve the target of adding 4,357 MW in the Tenth Plan period. Of the total Plan outlay of over Rs 32,000 crore, the corporation has already invested about Rs 7,000 crore and has added 1,400 MW.

Three more projects totalling 1,170 MW capacity would be commissioned in the current financial year.For capacity expansion during the Tenth Plan, NHPC would be getting central budgetary support of Rs 14,200 crore of which about Rs 4,000 crore had already been pumped in. NHPC would get budgetary support of Rs 2,104 crore from the government for 2004-05.

According to year-wise break-up of investment plans during the remaining three years of the Tenth Plan, Rs 7,000 crore would be spent in the current financial year; Rs 8,000 crore in 2005-06 and Rs 10,000 crore in 2006-07.