Haryana to get 1,320-Mw power project at Jhajjar

Haryana Power Generation Corporation Ltd (HPGCL) has decided to set up a 1,320-Mw power project at an investment of about Rs 7,000 crore at Jhajjar in accordance with the guidelines set by the Ministry of Power. The non-financial bids for the same have been opened and are being processed.

Giving details, Ashok Lavasa, financial commissioner and principal secretary (power), said here today that the HPGCL had constituted a technical committee to ensure that the project preparation and implementation was transparent and in accordance with the bidding guidelines of the Centre.

The bids were opened in the presence of the chairman and members of the committee and representatives of three major power companies "" Lanco Infratech, Torrent Power and CLP Power.

The project will be executed strictly according to the National Tariff Policy framed with the objective to ensure reliable and quality power to the consumers at competitive rates. The emphasis of the policy is to promote competitive procurement of electricity by distribution licensee, facilitate transparency and fairness in procurement process.

Jyoti Arora, managing director, HPGCL, said the timely execution of the power project at Jhajjar will have a major role in bridging the gap between demand and supply. Haryana has witnessed around 14 per cent load growth over the last year due to rapid industrialisation, urbanisation and increase in agricultural load.

After the Ministry of Power decided in principle to allocate coal linkage for this project in August 2007, a fresh request for qualification (RFQ) was issued in February last year, after obtaining approval from Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC). The capacity of this project was revised to 1,320 Mw for allowing various options to the bidders for setting up of project even with super critical boilers.

After getting the approval from the evaluation committee headed by the chief secretary at the RFQ stage, draft RFQ/PPA documents were issued to the qualified bidders on July 10, 2007. The pre-bid conference with the bidders was held on July 31, 2007, and final RFP/PPA documents after incorporating the pre-bid comments were sent to HERC for getting the necessary approval. After receipt of approval from HERC, the RFP/PPA documents were issued to the prospective bidders on December 24, 2007.

She also said that the process of acquiring land measuring 1,221 acre for this project is in the final stage. The case for getting environmental clearance is already under consideration with the Ministry of Environment and Forests and is likely to be decided shortly.

Coal linkage has been allocated by Coal India Limited from Central Coal Fields and Mahanadi Coal Fields. The Letter of Intent (LoI) for this project is expected to be awarded by the end of April, 2008, and the project is likely to be commissioned during 2011-12.

Irrigation department has committed 150 cusec of water needed for the project. HPGCL shall arrange all mandatory approvals from the quarters concerned and provide necessary facilities for timely execution of the project.

She further stated that the financial bids will be opened on March 17, 2008. The project will be allotted to the successful bidders after approval of the evaluation committee.