Mayawati govt to review Anpara C privatisation

Lucknow, May 29: The mega 1000 megawat Anpara C power project in Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh is once again in doldrums, with the new Mayawati government reviewing the decisions taken by the previous Samajwadi Party government for their alleged policy of favouritism.

The project was awarded to private Hyderabad-based power company Lanco Kundapalli, with the letter of acceptances being signed on September 27,2006. But even after six months there is no progress in the project.

The project has been in the eye of the storm from the time the Mulayam government took the decision to hand it over to the private sector by setting aside a soft loan deal clinched with the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

The state government ordered review of the project, following representations made by the power unions including All India Power Engineers Federation.

The unions raised several objections on the irregularities made by the past government in favouring the private companies. As no land has been handed over to the company, there is only Rs 90 crore as surity pending with the government, there is all possibility of scrapping of the deal.

''On January 31,2004, the Samajwadi Party government rejected the soft loan of JBIC for the Anpara C project and decided to give it to the private sector saying that the state cannot share the burden of Rs 500 crore required for getting the loan of Rs 3500 crore from the international bank'', said Federation's secretary general Shailendra Dubey.

In another alleged gross irregularity, in the global tender issued by the state government, the invitation was only for the private sector and not for the public sector undertakings.

Mr Dubey said Planning Commission energy advisor Surya Sethi had also wrote to UP Power Corporation Limited(UPPCL) chairman Ashok Khurana saying ''if you can tell us if any Central Public sector Undertaking (CSPU) or state public sector undertaking was invited to bid for the Anpara C project under level terms, if not way. Was there any interest from CPSU or State PSUs and did UP try to illicit such interest''.

In another big lapse, Lanco had quoted Rs 1.91 per unit of power for the Anpara C project but just 30 kilometers away the same company quoted Re 1.19 per unit for the 4000 mw Sashan power project.

The power union leader said the Request for Proposal(RFP) document was changed in mid-way with amending that if there is any political intereference or strike, then the state would have to bear the losses while earlier it was for the private company to bear it.

On the other hand the price evaluation committee of the state government also took about six months time after the RFP was opened on June 6,2006 to select the company, which was also fishy,he said.

There was a delay of about four months as the bid was opened on June 6,2006 and Lanco was declared the lowest bidder in the fray.

The board of the Power Corporation had ratified the report of the 'Bid Evaluation Committee' for the Anpara C project on September 7,2006.

The Request For Proposal (RFP) of the project was opened on June 6, where the bids of Lanco Kundapalli were found to be the lowest.

The other bidders comprising Essar Power and Reliance Energy, were considered to be the frontrunner.

As per the time frame decided by the power regulator UP State Electricity Regulatory Commission', the process for the award of contract to the successful bidder--the issue of 'Letter of Acceptance' by UP.

The Lanco Kundapalli group had outbid Reliance Energy and Essar Group for the 1,000-Mw Anpara C thermal power project and it showcased as the first tariff based competitive bidding project, the power project has already major approvals including the coal linkage in place.

Five power distribution companies would sign separate Escrow account agreement with the power generator and purchase the entire 1,000 MW generated by the Anpara C'.

UNI