Bid submission dates for Odisha, Tamil Nadu UMPPs extended

Last date of submission of application for Odisha UMPP is extended to Nov 25 and for Tamil Nadu to Nov 28

The bid submission dates for the proposed ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) in Odisha and Tamil Nadu have been extended to the last week of this month.

The dates for submission of preliminary bids for the Odisha and Tamil Nadu UMPPs have been extended due to amendments in certain provisions of the RFQ (Request for Qualification), as per a circular on the website of Power Finance Corporation.

"The last date of submission of application for pre-qualification for Odisha UMPP is extended to November 25 and for Tamil Nadu to November 28, " the circular said.

The earlier date for bid submission for both the UMPPs was today (November 11, 2013).

These projects are estimated to cost Rs 25,000 crore each. The UMPP in Tamil Nadu is to be constructed in Cheyyur and the one in Odisha will come up in the Sundergarh district.

Cheyyur UMPP is a coastal power project based on imported coal. The beneficiary states are Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

The Odisha project will be a coal-fired pit head project and the fuel will be sourced from Meenakshi, Meenakshi B and dip side of Meenakshi mine in Ib Valley coalfields.

These projects are to be executed on DBFOT - design, build, finance, operate and transfer - model.

The RFQs for both these projects were floated by PFC -- the nodal agency for UMPPs -- in September this year.

UMPP is a big-size coal-based thermal power plant of minimum 4,000 MW capacity.

These bids have been invited after the government revised the existing Standard Bidding Documents.

Under the revised norms, any escalation in cost of fuel will be passed on to the consumer in the form of higher tariff and the companies executing the projects will have to mandatorily source equipment from domestic manufacturers.

So far, four UMPPs have been awarded. Of these, three -- Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand) -- have been bagged by Reliance Power.

Tata Power is operating the Mundra UMPP in Gujarat.