Private players stay away from NTPC bids

Private sector power players, including multinationals, have, for the second successive time in less than a week, boycotted the notice inv...

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Private sector power players, including multinationals, have, for the second successive time in less than a week, boycotted the notice inviting bids of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

Last week, there were no takers for the bid for the 1000 MW extension project of NTPC’s Rihand plant on the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border. Yesterday, bids closed for the 500 MW stage III of the Ramagundam power plant in Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh, and there were no private sector bidders — public sector BHEL was the sole bidder.

The configuration of Ramagundam power plant is: Stage 1 600 MW, Stage 2 1500 MW and Stage 3 500 MW. At 2,600 MW, the project will be on the largest power plants in the country.

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According to sources, the notice inviting bids (NIB) was first issued on November 11, 2000 and original due date was February 9, 2000. It was extended to April 27, 2000 and further extended. The final due date for the bid was October 24, 2000.

When the bids finally opened, BHEL emerged as the sole bidder. This is mainly due to the extension of the purchase price preference. According to NTPC sources, it is left with no other option but to accept the single bid of BHEL which has reportedly quoted Rs 1,500 crore for the power island and also ash handling, coal handling and water systems. NTPC has to now decide if the BHEL price is competitive or should it go for a rebid to get a better price, sources added.

The prospective bidders included multinationals like Siemens, Alstom, Marubeni and Mitsubishi. The other private sector players who were likely to bid include L&T and BSES.