Reliance Power has offered to supply power at Rs 1.77 per unit and bagged the Tilaiya ultra mega power project (UMPP) in Jharkhand. This was the lowest price quoted by the four companies in the fray.
After Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, this is the third UMPP won by the Anil Ambani group company.
The next best bid for the Rs 16,000-18,000-crore project came from government owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). This corporation offered to supply power from the pithead coal project at Rs 2.39 per unit.
Jindal Steel and Power offered to supply power at Rs 2.69 per unit. Sterlite Industries offered the highest at Rs 2.97 per unit.
An official of the Power Finance Corporation (PFC), which is the nodal agency for the ultra mega power projects, revealed that Lanco Infratech, the fifth company shortlisted to bid, withdrew support at the last minute.
Eleven companies had originally qualified to bid for the Tilaiya UMPP. Due to the global financial meltdown and the subsequent credit crunch, many companies opt out of the bid. These included the likes of Tata Power and Larsen & Toubro.
According to the analysts, Reliances winning bid is "very aggressive". It has cited the huge gap between the lowest bid (Rs 1.77 per unit) and the second best bid (NTPCs Rs 2.39 per unit). The bid was however much higher than the Rs 1.19 per unit that the company bid for the comparable project at Sasan.
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