Rs 49,200-cr Odisha, Tamil Nadu UMPPs postponed

This, as shortlisted companies ask for more time to submit price bids

The award of two 4,000-Mw ultra mega power projects (UMPPs), entailing mega investment of Rs 49,200 crore, has been pushed by two-and-a-half months to June, with the shortlisted firms requesting more time for price bids.

Power Finance Corporation (PFC), the power ministry’s arm which manages the bidding for the UMPPs, had in December 2013 shortlisted nine companies for the Odisha UMPP and eight companies for the Tamil Nadu UMPP in the Request For Qualification (RFQ) stage.

The Request For Proposals (RFPs) were to come by February 26. “All the companies together sought extension of 10 weeks for RFP submission for the Odisha project and eight weeks for the Tamil Nadu UMPP, arguing the market condition is not ripe for such huge investments. The extension has been granted,” a senior PFC executive told Business Standard. He added the projects are now likely to be awarded only after the general elections in May.

The nine companies in the race for the Odisha UMPP are NTPC, Tata Power, NHPC, Adani Power, JSW Energy, Jindal Power, Sterlite Infraventures, CLP India, and Larsen & Toubro (L&T).

Eight companies — Adani Power, CLP India, GMR Energy, Jindal Power, JSW Energy, L&T, NTPC, and Sterlite Infraventures — are to give price bids for the Tamil Nadu project.

The Odisha UMPP, which will come up at Bedabahal in Sundargarh district, is a pit-head project, based on domestic coal to be sourced from allocated captive coal blocks, with an expected investment of around Rs 25,000 crore. The Kancheepuram UMPP is a coastal project based on imported coal to be set up in Kancheepuram district, with an investment of Rs 24,200 crore. The project would be India’s third coastal UMPP after Mundra in Gujarat (Tata Power) and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, operated by Reliance Power. PFC had kicked off bidding for the two UMPPs in September 2013. Applications for pre-qualification were opened in November 2013. PFC had initially planned to award the two projects by the end of the current month.

The two UMPPs are part of a bigger plan to set up 13 such large-sized projects, to bridge the gap in demand and supply of power.