REL or fresh bids? Sasan eGoM to decide on Mon

The empowered group of ministers (eGoM) on the vexed Sasan issue will meet on Monday to decide whether to award the 4,000 MW ultra mega power project (UMPP) to the second lowest bidder or invite fresh bids.

The eGoM had, on Tuesday, declared the Lanco-Globeleq consortium's bid for the project as invalid, and had asked Sasan Power (SPL), a special purpose vehicle set up by Power Finance Corporation, to examine the future course of action.

The SPL board, which met yesterday, has left it to the government to decide on whether to award the Rs 20,000 crore project to Reliance Energy - it being the second-lowest bidder - or to invite fresh bids,  official sources said.

The board has, however, suggested that other bidders may be asked to quote fresh prices in order to match the price quoted by the Lanco-Globeleq consortium.

The eGoM had declared Lanco's bid as "void ab-initio" (invalid from the outset) at the Request for Qualification stage.

The Lanco-Globeleq consortium had outbid REL with a tariff bid of Rs 1.196 per unit, but the consortium later broke after Globeleq sold its stake to Lanco and Jindal Steel and Power.

The eGoM, which would meet for the fifth time on Monday, has been set up to resolve the imbroglio over the project after it was alleged that Lanco misrepresented facts during the bidding process.