A consortium of Lanco Infratech and US-based Massey Energy Company, emerged as the lowest bidder for a power project by Maha Tamil Colleries, sources said. The 1,980 megawatt power project located in Raigarh, Chhatisgarh includes the development of a coal mine which has reserves to the tune of 650 million tonnes. A final decision is yet to be announced, even as the bids were opened today.
Maha Tamil Collieries is a joint venture company of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board and the Maharashtra State Mining Corporation, each an arm of their respective state governments. The project includes the development of the coal mine, which has an estimated annual production capacity of 10 million tonnes. The developer has to supply 35 per cent of the coal obtained to Maharashtra, and can use the rest of the coal to set-up a power project.
Half of the power produced from this project should be supplied to Tamil Nadu state government, and the other half can be sold via the merchant route, by the company. As per the rules of the bid, any excess coal should be diverted back to the joint venture company.
Power and coal companies bid on the amount of money charged for the coal to be supplied. Lanco and Massey consortium submitted a negative bid of Rs 112 per tonne where instead of charging Mahatamil, they would pay them for the coal used.
The spokesperson of Lanco refused to comment on the development. However, a senior company official said that even if they were to pay the joint venture as opposed to charging them, they would have coal security and it would still be cheaper than buying imported coal which is currently hovering around $130 per tonne. “The cost of coal mined along with the bid amount will still make the project viable,” said the offical.
The project had six other bidders, all of whom have submitted bids where they charged Maha Tamil to supply coal which is developed from the mine. Reliance Power asked for a price of Rs 380 per tonne, Sterlite’s bid asked for Rs 175 per tonne, GMR put in a bid for asked for Rs 234 per tonne, and GVK’s at Rs 405 per tonne and L&T Power put the highest bid at Rs 819 per tonne. Individual companies could not be contacted for their bid prices.
Some of the other bidders are however say that it is extremely competitive bid and that it will be unviable. “A lot of bidders were expected to be aggressive, as it is a very different bid. However, it is very risky to put in a negative bid,” said a power sector analyst who resfused to be quoted.