The ministry of heavy industry's efforts to ensure participation of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) in National Thermal Power Corporation's (NTPC) Sipat thermal project threatens to set back the schedule of the 1,980 mw mega power project.
With tendering dates for providing super-critical thermal sets for the project being postponed twice, reportedly due to Bhel's inability to firm up a technology partner for the contract, NTPC has decided to take a firm decision on tendering for thermal sets for the project by the end of this month, government officials involved in the exercise said.
Bhel, which does not have the super critical boiler technology, has also been given a week's deadline by its administrative ministry-the heavy industry ministry-to firm up a concrete plan for bidding for the project.
Bhel's agreement with European firm Babcock Borsig for acquiring the technology has run into trouble with Babcock filing for bankruptcy. BHEL has since been trying to acquire the technology from Siemens AG, government officials said.
The tendering for the new supercritical thermal sets to be used for the project was originally carried out in May 2001. After the project attained mega power status, the contract was re-tendered in January and bidding dates was to be carried out in June 15.
The dates were postponed to July 16, 2002, and subsequently postponed indefinitely. While NTPC has officially denied the bidding has been delayed to accommodate Bhel in the process, senior NTPC officials said that as per Central Electricity Authority norms, domestic participation in such projects has to be encouraged.
A least three meetings have been held in the last couple of months at the ministry level on the issue, the latest one being held on September 3.
Since Bhel had not firmed up a plan for technology tie-up till then, the ministry of heavy industry, at a meeting on September 10, issued a deadline to Bhel to finalise a collaborator within two weeks.
