Big firms line up for PowerGrid projects

Contracts for the Rs 1,500-cr projects to be awarded by June.

Essar, Tata Power, Larsen and Toubro, Reliance Energy, GMR, China Light and Power and Spanish firms Isolex Wat and Abengoa are among a dozen players in the fray for Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd's (PGCIL) independent private power transmission lines in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The contract for the Rs 1,500-crore projects will be awarded in June.

"As many as 28 bid documents were purchased and of those, 12 companies participated in the pre-bid conference for each of these projects. Another pre-bid conference is scheduled on April 18. The companies will be selected by June this year and the projects are expected to be complete by 2009," PowerGrid Chairman and Managing Director RP Singh said.

The two transmission projects are part of PGCIL's Rs 4,700-crore western grid scheme. One project involves building substations and grid lines in southern Maharashtra at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore. The Gujarat project will require an investment of Rs 500 crore.

PowerGrid is also coming out with an initial public offering by December this year on the lines of other power sector companies like NTPC Ltd and Power Finance Corporation.

Singh, however, declined to say how much the company was expecting to raise from the issue or its likely price band. The company had a paid-up equity of Rs 3,200 crore and a net worth of about Rs 8,500 crore.

PGCIL and the Meghalaya State Electricity Board (MSEB) will sign a joint venture for setting up a 200-Kv transmission line at Bernihat shortly, involving an investment of Rs 200 crore. PGCIL will hold a majority stake of 89 per cent in it, while the rest will lie with MSEB.

The company has also entered into an agreement with Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Ltd as a consultant for construction of a 400 Kv transmission line from Meramundali to Duburi in Orissa.