UP to give power unit in private hands

Lucknow, May 9: Despite strong opposition from the employees and engineers, Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) has finally decided to accept bids from private power generation companies for the mega 1000 MW Anpara C thermal power unit till May 22.

UPPCL is going ahead in inviting tenders for the Rs 10,000 crore project at the time when Uttar Pradesh is going through one of the worst power crises.

A lot of heat was generated over the proposal of Anpara 'C' going in the private hands and the striking employees had even preveted the entry of reprenstatives of the private companies from entering the premises of unit for inspection.

Braving the protests from its employees, UPPCL chairman Ashok Khurana today said all hitches for early setting up of the Anpara C unit have been cleared and bids would be opened later this month.

Reliance Energy Generation Company is considered to be the frontliner in getting this coveted project to be completed by 2011, the highly placed sources told UNI here.

After the bid is open, the slected company for the project would have to give its letter of acceptance by June 6 and would have to sign an agreement with the UPPCL by August 17.

At present, three private power companies-Reliance Energy Generation Ltd, Essar Power Ltd and Lanco Kundapalli Power Pvt Ltd- are in the race for the contract of Anpara C thermal power project.The process of award of the contract is likely to be finalized by end of this month.

Meanwhile opposing the move, All India Power Engineers Federation secretary general Shailendra Dubey here alleged that by giving Anpara C project to the private sector, the state government was conspiring to hand over the present Anpara A and B units to them in the later stages. ''As the Anpara C units cannot be operated without the assistance of Anpara A and B units as the coal handling area and coal washers are common for all the three units'', he claimed.

Mr Dubey, who had drawn up a wide range of agitations if the government continues its effort on the Anpara C,said even today if UPPCL wants Anpara C can be set up in the public sector in a record time of 36 months.

For finding a private entrepreneur the UP Power Generation Corporation Ltd, had floated the global tenders for the award of the Anpara C, project in November 2004. The bidders were asked to submit the Request For Qualification(RFQ) by December 1, 2004.The task force on energy headed by the state chief secretary had approved the RFQ on March 14 2005.

The state government on April 2005 had cleared the RFQ submitted by eight companies and these companies were asked to submit the Request For Proposal (RFP). The last date for buying the 400 page RFP documents costing Rs 10 Lakh, was May 10, 2005 and only three companies turned up. The power regulator UP State Electricity Regulatory Commission' also granted its approval to the RFP document in March last.

The approved RFP document has been handed over to all the three bidders in the fray for the Anpara C project. Financial closure for the Anpara C thermal project is likely to be initiated as soon as the contract is awarded. The successful bidder would be required to commission the power project in next 48 months from the date of the award of the contract.

The successful bidder for the Anpara C thermal project would be given 80-Acre land on lease for next 30 years at the annual lease rent of Rs 100 per acre. Two thermal units Anpara A and Anpara B are already in operation since 1993, generating 1,560 MW. The Anpara C promoter would have the benefit of common facilities like coal washer, coal handling plant and water reservoir.

Five power distribution companies, all subsidiaries of the state run power utility UP Power corporation Limited would sign separate Escrow account agreement with the power generator and would purchase the entire 1,000 MW generated by the Anpara C.Power companies had demanded government's guarantee for the project that was rejected and were instead, offered ''Escrow account cover''.

Besides the Anpara C, the state government is also moving ahead for setting up 2X500 Anpara D', thermal power unit. The Union ministry of forest and environment has granted the clearance for the project and the NTPC has been entrusted with the task of preparing Detailed Project Report (DRP).

UPPCL has drawn up an ambitious programme to increase its power generation capacity at least over 7000 megawatt during the next three years.

UNI