6 Bidders Want To Walk Out Of Mega Power Projects

Six bidders who qualified to compete for the two mega power projects, proposed to be set up in Odisha and Tamil Nadu, want to quit unless the bid terms are reworked.

The Adani group, CLP, GMR Group, Jindal Steel & Power, JSW Energy and Tata Power have expressed unwillingness to submit their price bids on the ground that the terms of the standard bid document would make the projects unfeasible.

All the six firms are members of the Association of Power Producers, an umbrella organisation representing a majority of private power firms in the country. The association has written to Power Minister Piyush Goyal, asking for a ‘comprehensive’ review of the bid terms. They have also asked for a review of the government’s DBFOT (design, build, finance, operate and transfer) model.

“Six out of the nine bidders for both Tamil Nadu and Odisha’s ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) have approached us to take up the matter with the power minister, stating that in its present form of DBFOT, it would be extremely difficult to further participate in the bidding process to submit the price bid,” said Ashok Khurana, the association’s director general.

The government had relaxed the standard bidding norms for the UMPPs last year to attract developers.