As many as 20 power generating companies, including Tatas, Adani, Essar group and NTPC have put in their initial bids for executing the 4,000-MW ultra mega power project (UMPP) in Orissa.
"Twenty companies have shown interest in setting up the 4,000 Mw UMPP at Bedabahal in Orissa," according to the first round of bid which was opened today, sources in the know said.
The other companies which have submitted bids are L&T, JSW Energy, Nalco, Welspun Energy, AES India, Torrent Power, Jindal Power, GVK Energy Ventures, Lanco Hydro Power Ventures, GMR Energy, Senator Energy, Jaiprakash Power Ventures, Gujarat Paguthan Energy Corporation, CESC, Jindal Power, Sterlite Energy, Essar Group firm Vadinar Power Company and Aditya Birla Power Venture.
The UMPP at Orissa is the fifth in the series. So far, four UMPPs have been awarded, with Reliance Power bagging three-- Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand)--and Tata Power executing the fourth one at Mundra in Gujarat.
The Power Ministry plans to set up 16 UMPPs over a period of time to tide over the electricity shortage in the country.
Coal blocks for the Orissa UMPP were cleared recently after delay of over an year due to enviornmental hurdles. These blocks were stuck in the policy of 'Go, No-go' regime.
The three coal blocks allotted to the project are -- Meenakshi-A, Meenakshi-B and Meenakshi Dipside.
The preliminary bids would be evaluated and the bidding companies which qualify the criteria set by PFC Consulting -- the wholly-owned subsidiary of Power Finance Corp and also the nodal agency for this UMPP -- would be asked to submit the final bids.
"It can take anywhere between two to three months for the evaluation of these initials bids and the qualifying companies would be asked to bid during the final round," sources added.
Once the initial bid evaluation is complete, the qualified parties would be mandated to submit the technical and financial bids for the project, based on which the project would be finally awarded to the winner.
The next project for which the initial bids would be invited is likely to be the Sarguja plant in Chhattisgarh. The bids may be invited by the next month-end.
