Three companies make it to final round for N-E UMTP

Three private sector power companies — Reliance Infrastructure’s subsidiary Reliance Power Transmission Limited (RPTL), Sterlite Energy and Lanco Infratech — will compete with each other in the final round of bidding for the first ultra mega transmission project (UMTP) in the country for the North-Eastern region. 

Sources said of the eight qualified bidders who were shortlisted in May, only three companies submitted the Request For Proposal (RFP) to East-North Interconnection Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Power Finance Corporation (PFC). All the three companies have submitted their technical and financial bids. The financial bids are scheduled to be opened on September 29. 

Those who had qualified but backed out from the final round are Larsen & Toubro, Essar Power, CESC, Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) and JSW Energy. Earlier, 16 bidders had applied for the project. 

The project is for setting up 427 km of transmission lines, connecting the North and Eastern regions of the country to evacuate about 1,700 Mw of surplus power. 

Sources said the UMTP initiative, on the lines of the ultra mega power projects (UMPPs), was for the development of independent transmission projects through private sector participation for evacuation of power from the generating stations to pooling stations and to other grid stations and load centers. 

The project will be implemented through an build, own, operate and maintain (BOOM) basis and will be awarded through competitive tariff based bidding. The government is planning to award three such projects — Talcher Augmentation Transmission System (Talcher-II), North Karanpura Transmission System and East-North Interconnection System, with an estimated investment of over Rs 5,500 crore, sources said. 

The North-East Interconnection UMTP will consist of two lines, a 217-km long 400-kV transmission line between Bongaigaon in Assam to Siliguri in West Bengal and another 210-km similar line between Purnea and Biharsharif in Bihar. The project has to be completed within three years of awarding the project, with a scheduled commissioning date by October 2012. 

Reliance Infrastructure is currently implementing the Rs 1,370-crore Western Region System Strengthening Schemes in Maharashtra and Gujarat, which it won through a tariff-based international competitive bidding process. An R-Infra spokesperson said the company has been qualified at the Request For Qualification (RFQ) stage for all three UMTP projects announced for private participation.