Tidcos Tender For Jlpc Lignite Mine Draws Six Bids

These include four bids from international mining companies and two from domestic majors, a Tidco source said. He, however, refused to mention the names.

Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation proposes to develop 9 million tonnes of lignite and supply the same to JLPC.

In the first phase, the capacity would be 4 million tonnes per annum.

The land for the mine would be owned by Tidco and leased to the contractor by end-1997 for a 30- year period.

The promoters of JLPC - Tidco, Siemens, Deutsche Babcock and the Williamson Magor group company, McNally Bharat Engineering - had decided that mine development by the company would not be viable.

 

The company had also decided to change its initial mining technology from the bucket-wheel method to the more conventional shovel-and-truck mode.

However, it was later agreed that the Tamil Nadu government would develop the mines and supply lignite to JLPC.

As a result, one of the original promoters, MAN Takraf had walked out of JLPC. MAN is regarded internationally as a specialist in bucket-wheel technology.

Though the long- run operating costs of the bucket-wheel technology is relatively lower, the initial investment required is substantially higher than the shovel-and-truck method.

Though Jayamkondam Lignite Power Corporation was believed to be talking to multinationals such as, CRA Energy and Peabody Resources to rope them in as a likely replacement for MAN.

The project, originally conceived in 1991, has been hanging fire due to lack of financing from domestic and multilateral lending institutions.

Of the four promoters, while Siemens will provide the turbine technology for the project, Deutsche Babcock will provide the boiler technology.

The promoters have also decided to scale down the size from 1,500 mw to 500 mw in the first stage. Financial closure of the project will be completed by March 1997.

However, JLPC is yet to decide on the capital outlay or the equity pattern.

According to the original plan, Tidco was to hold 26 per cent of the equity, while the other four were to take up 6 per cent each. Later, the proposal was revised to the five partners holding 10 per cent each.