11 hardware bidders eye Arunachal hydel project

State owned power major "" North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd (NEEPCO) has received bids from 11 power equipment manufacturing giants including six civil construction firms for the Rs 2,500 crore, 600Mw Kameng hydro power project in Arunachal Pradesh.

Companies that bid for the electro-mechanical portion of the project included Alstom Power, Marubeni Corporation and public sector Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd.

Three companies submitted bids for the hydro-mechanical part of the project. These were Texmaco Ltd, Alstom Power and Tungabhadra Ltd, a Hyderabad based public sector organisation.

Largest number of bids were received for the civil package, from companies including Larsen & Toubro in consortium with Hyundai. Other companies were Patel Engineering, Gammon India and Soma Ltd.

The first phase of the power plant was scheduled for completion in 22 months where civil construction would be a Rs 400 crore package while the electromechanical portion was estimated to be worth another Rs 400 crore. The hydro mechanical part was estimated to cost around Rs 200 crore, totalling Rs 1,000 crore.

The entire project was expected to be completed in 60 months at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore. The Kameng hydro electrical power plant was part of Neepco's 2370 Mw capacity expansion project to be completed within the XIth five year plan.

Meanwhile, the Shillong based power generation company has also entered into talks with two private sector power companies, Tata Power and Reliance-owned BSES, for setting up a joint venture generating company in Arunachal Pradesh where the latter would hold minority stake.

The joint venture company would have a total generating capacity of 2,920Mw under joint venture agreement with private parties. The four projects with total generating capability of 2,920Mw will include three 600Mw hydel power plants and a fourth unit with generating capacity of 1,120 Mw.

With the average cost of 1Mw of hydel power estimated at Rs 2.8 crore, the total cost of the project was expected to be around Rs 8,400 crore. Average cost of power generated from these plants was estimated at Rs 1.58 per unit.

The debt equity ratio of the project would be 80:20. With 20 per cent equity, the private partner will have to bring in Rs 850 crore for 49 per cent holding. NEEPCO would pump in the balance Rs 860 crore.