Initial bids for Orissa UMPP soon: Power Minister

The pre-qualification bids for the 4,000 Mw ultra mega power project at Bedabahal in Orissa would be invited "very soon", Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said today.

"Once the land acquisition is complete RFQ (Request for Qualification) can be floated," the minister said without divulging the precise date.

Officials from the Power Ministry met the Orissa government officials to discuss the proposed UMPP, the state is likely to get 1,200 Mw of the total 4,000 Mw from the project.

The preliminary bids for another such project at Sarguja in Chhattisgarh opened last month. The project is likely to see participation from companies such as NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, and Sterlite Energy.

Power Finance Corp is the nodal agency for these projects.The government has so far awarded four UMPPs, three of which have been bagged by Reliance Power -- Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand).

Tata Power is executing the 4,000 Mw Mundra UMPP in Gujarat, the first 800 Mw unit of which is expected to commission during the current plan period (2007-12). The government had earlier planned to set up nine UMPPs over a period of time that would add to generation capacity in the XIIth Plan Period (2012-17).