SC to begin final hearing on NTPC's Rs 15k cr tender in July

The Supreme Court would begin in July the final hearing over NTPC's petition against a high court order directing the PSU to consider the joint bid by Italian boiler firm Ansaldo Caldaie Boilers and Gammon India in Rs 15,000 crore tender for super-critical power tools.

A bench comprising Justices Altamas Kabir and Cyriac Joseph would start the final hearing over the NTPC's plea from July 20.

Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, appearing for NTPC, today told the bench that the PSU would not consider the bids of JV led by Ansaldo.

He further requested the court to allow NTPC to go ahead and allow it to process its bid, which was declined by the bench. The company also submitted that due to the high court's order, it was suffering a daily loss of Rs 10.4 crores.

The PSU had on the previous hearing on April 4 assured the court that NTPC would maintain status quo on the tendering process till the matter was resolved.

The apex court had then issued notices to Ansaldo and its Indian partner Gammon India over NTPC's petition.

NTPC’s plea came in the wake of a Delhi High Court verdict that permitted the Ansaldo-Gammon consortium to participate in the bidding process for the supply tender.

The PSU has submitted to the court that Italian boiler manufacturer Ansaldo Caldaie Boilers had formed a joint venture with Gammon India Ltd to bid for the supply of Rs 15,000 crore worth of super-critical power equipment to NTPC.

However, NTPC had rejected the bid as the Italian firm did not have the capacity to design the super-critical boiler and did not fulfill the minimum criteria stipulated in the techno-commercial tender, submitted by the PSU before the apex court.

This was opposed by Ansalado and Gammon India, which held they had all the required experience and fulfilled all the required parameters to participate in the bidding process.

The state-run power producer moved the apex court after the Delhi High Court allowed Ansaldo to bid for the tender for providing super-critical power equipment to the power giant.

NTPC had invited manufacturers to bid for supplying a package, including 11 super—critical boilers and an equal number of super—critical turbines of 660—MW capacity each.

Besides ACB, there are four bidders for the tender, including Bhel, a consortium of L&T Power and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and a JV between BGR and Hitachi Power Europe GmbH.

Chennai-based ACB India is a JV between Ansaldo Caldaie, an Italian boiler manufacturer and Gammon India.