Credit crisis delays bids for 4,000 MW Tilaiya plant by month

New Delhi, Nov 10 (UNI) The government has deferred bidding for the 4,000 MW ultra-mega power project (UMPP) at Tilaiya in Jharkhand by a month due to the ongoing credit crisis, Power Secretary Anil Razdan said here today.

''We want to ensure there is no credit squeeze for genuine developers. We did receive requests from prospective bidders for postponement of (the) closing date,'' he told reporters here.

Nine companies have qualified to bid for the project and six to seven of them, including the Tata group, had requested the government to postpone bidding, ''So, bids for the Tilaiya plant can now be submitted till December 1,'' he said.

Earlier, Mr Razdan had said output of the Dabhol power plant has fallen to 900 MW from 1,200 MW because of turbine collapse.

The Government has already awarded three UMPPs of 4,000 MW each to Reliance Power at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and at Krishna Patnam in Andhra Pradesh, and to the Tatas at Mundra in Gujarat.

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