10 Bidders For Rs 3,189cr Bengal Power Project

Two Indian companies are in the race along with 16 global majors for three contracts worth Rs 3,189 crore of pumped-storage hydroelectric project at Ayodhya Hills in Purulia district of West Bengal.

Even these two Indian firms _ Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd (Bhel) and Patel Engineering _ are part of two consortiums led by foreign companies. Though all foreign bidders have a number of Indian sub-contractors, Indian companies barring the two have not qualified for the global bidding norms of the Japanese-assisted power project which will be the largest of its kind in India.

Altogether 10 bids have been submitted for three major packages. The Rs 515 crore main civil work package has three bidders _ Taisei Corporation of Japan, Skanska International of Sweden, and, a multi-nation consortium of Dyckerhoff & Widmann Atkiengeselschft of Germany, Drogados Y Construceiones S A of Spain, Schimiski of Japan and Patel Engineering of India.

The Rs 393 crore electro-mechanical equipment package, including pump-turbine and generator-motor, has four bidders - Alsthom of France, Voeth Hydro of Germany, a consortium of Siemens, and, Sulzer of Germany, and yet another consortium of Mitsui, Toshiba and Mitsubishi of Japan, and Bhel.

Rs 600 crore hydro-mechanical package has three bidders _ a consortium of ABB of Sweden and Riva Kalzani of Portugal, Voest Alpine of Austria, and Mitsubishi of Japan.

The technical bids for all the tenders have been opened. The price bid for the civil work package was opened in September. WBSEB will make its choice in the next few weeks. But, any decision on the selection of the bidder is subject to vetting by the Joint Venture Consultant, a consultancy firm made up of WAPCOS of India and EPDC of Japan. The decision will then be referred to the ministry of power. The contract can be awarded only after that.

Sources said that the entire tendering process has been delayed by about three months. This is largely due to various amendments asked by the global bidders.

Sources said that WBSEB did not opt for the standard international norms of global tendering. For example, any litigation has to be filed in India under the terms of the tender. There were also some specifications that suited local conditions.