Reliance Power has bagged the Tilaiya ultra mega power project (UMPP) in Jharkhand by offering to supply power at Rs 1.77 per unit — the lowest price quoted by the four companies in the fray.
The next best bid for the Rs 16,000-18,000-crore project came from government owned NTPC, which offered to supply power from the pithead coal project at Rs 2.39 per unit.
There were two other bidders — Jindal Steel and Power which offered to supply power at Rs 2.69 per unit and Sterlite Industries which bid the highest at Rs 2.97 per unit.
The fifth company shortlisted to bid, Lanco Infratech, partnership with Genting Power International, withdrew at the last minute, according to an official of the Power Finance Corporation (PFC), which is the nodal agency for the ultra mega power projects. Lanco said that bankers to its partner, Genting Power, withdrew support for the project at the last moment, forcing them to withdraw their bid.
This is the third UMPP won by the Anil Ambani group company, after Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
Eleven companies had originally qualified to bid for the Tilaiya UMPP but the global financial meltdown and the subsequent credit crunch saw many companies opt out of the bid. These included the likes of Tata Power and Larsen & Toubro.
Analysts described Reliance’s winning bid as “very aggressive,” citing the huge gap between the lowest bid (Rs 1.77 per unit) and the second best bid (NTPC’s 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
