6 foreign firms eyeing AP mega power project

Japanese corporate giant Sumitomo Corp, Malaysia's YTL Corp Berhard and Israel Electric, along with state-run NTPC Ltd and leading domestic firms such as Tatas and Reliance are among the 17 companies in race for setting up the 4,000 Mw ultra-mega power plant in Andhra Pradesh.

Power Finance Corporation, the nodal agency that is conducting the bidding for ultra-mega projects, had received 17 requests for qualification (RFQ) for the Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) project, an official said.

The Krishnapatnam project is the third of the nine such large power plants which the government has planned at a cost of Rs 15,000-20,000 crore each.

The deadline for submitting RFQs for the project, which will be operated with imported coal, is September 30. The project is expected to be transferred to the selected developer by April next year.

The source said about a dozen bidders were the same as those in fray for the Sasan (Madhya Pradesh) and Mundra (Gujarat) projects. There were five new firms, including YTL Corp and Israel Electric Corp.

In all, PFC had received RFQs from six foreign companies, which includes Sumitomo Corp, Khanjee Holdings of the US and China Light and Power, the source said.

Domestic companies in race for the Krishnapatnam project include Tata Power, Reliance Energy, Essar Power, GMR Energy, Larsen & Toubro, Lanco, Jindal Steel and AES India.

PFC, which had earlier received 13 RFQs for Mundra and 15 for the Sasan project, will sign power purchase agreements with beneficiary states for these two projects on October 9.