'Bids opened for captive port in Udangudi power project'

The bids for a captive port for handling coal for the proposed Udangudi thermal power project were opened on March 19 and work would start soon, said Tamil Nadu's minister for electricity, prohibition and excise Natham R. Viswanathan on Friday.

He said fresh tenders for two units of 660MW power plants will soon be issued and finalised.

According to him, the earlier tender was cancelled when a consultant found some infirmities in the price bids submitted by two bidders for the power plant.

The consultant had submitted the report on December 31, 2014, Viswanathan said.

He said at the board meeting of the state power utility that it was decided to scrap the earlier tender and call for fresh one and thereby avoiding the legal hurdle if the unsuccessful bidder goes to the court.

According to Viswanathan, power equipment company Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) and Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote a power project in 2007.

As there was no progress in the work, the AIADMK government under former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on February 24, 2012 announced scrapping of the MoU with BHEL and said the project will be undertaken by the state power utility.

On March 13, 2015, TNEB decided to scrap the two bids received for the Udangudi power project.

Political parties in Tamil Nadu had demanded a probe into the decision to cancel the tenders for the power plant.