Lanco front runner for UP power plant

Hyderabad-based Lanco Kondapalli has emerged as the front runner for the proposed 1,980-Mw thermal power plant at Bara in Allahabad district of Uttar Pradesh.

The company has quoted the lowest tariff-based bid of Rs 3.09 per unit, followed by Japyee at Rs 3.39 and Reliance Power at Rs 3.90.

A high-powered committee will evaluate the bids and take a decision in 2-3 days, UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) sources told Business Standard.

Meanwhile, sources also said that the UPPCL, in order to get lower tariffs, might also ask the bidding companies to submit fresh bids.

A total of nine companies were in fray for Bara, including NTPC, Indiabulls, Lanco, Jaypee, L&T and Reliance Power.

Jaypee has already been awarded the 1,320-Mw plant at Karchhna, also in Allahabad, by quoting the lowest tariff of Rs 2.97 per unit than Reliance, Adani and Lanco.

In another development, Torrent has been selected as the franchisee for power distribution in Agra.

The company had quoted highest electricity price at Rs 1.97 per unit for distributing power in the city. Reliance had quoted Rs 1.85 and Jamshedpur Utilities & Services Company Ltd (JUSCO) Rs 1.83. The state cabinet cleared its name today.

UP is implementing franchisee-based power transmission system in select urban areas to ensure efficiency in the power sector and contain massive pilferage.

The franchisee will be allotted power units at fixed price for distribution and they will realise revenue from consumers.

Torrent has already been issued Letter of Intent (LoI) for distributing power in the industrial town of Kanpur by quoting Rs 2.17 per unit, followed by JUSCO at Rs 2.16.

The bidding for Bareilly, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Aligarh and Meerut has been deferred till March 25. The power employees are opposing the franchisee system.

The state government plans to augment its power generation capacity by 10,000 Mw in the current 11th Five Year Plan.

UP reels under power crisis and the peak hour demand-supply gap routinely touches 2,500 Mw, despite import from central grid to the tune of 3,000 Mw. The total generation capacity of the 26 odd hydro and thermal power units is about 3,000 Mw.