The Hindu Business Line : Bidding process begins for transmission projects

The specifics
Projects to be awarded to developers on Build-Own-Operate (BOO) basis.
PFC and Rural Electrification Corporation nodal agencies for doing initial groundwork.

New Delhi , Jan. 11

In a bid to attract private sector participation in the power transmission sector, the Centre has kicked off a tariff-based competitive bidding process for 14 large transmission projects entailing a total investment of about Rs 20,000 crore.

Participants at a bidders' conference organised by the Power Ministry on Thursday included Tata Power, Reliance Energy Transmission, RPG Transmission Ltd, GMR Energy, L&T Ltd, Essar Power and Torrent Group.

The projects are to be awarded to developers on a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) basis and the Power Ministry has appointed Power Finance Corporation and Rural Electrification Corporation as nodal agencies for doing the initial groundwork for these projects.

The two State-owned lenders will set up special purpose vehicles (SPVs) for each of the transmission projects, similar to the manner of conducting the bidding for the Ultra Mega Power projects. The SPVs would look into issues such as carrying out initial and detailed surveys and feasibility reports, obtaining transmission licence, obtaining right of way, site identification and land compensation, prior to the award of these projects to developers.

Inaugurating the conference, the Power Minister, Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde, said: "This Bidders' Conference is the first step towards greater interaction between Ministry of Power, Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation and the prospective bidders for the transmission projects that will be built and operated by private developers... I am sure this initiative of development of transmission projects in the private sector will yield positive results as in the case of the Ultra Mega projects."

While the thrust of the initiative is to seek greater private investment into the power transmission sector, Central and State Government-owned agencies and joint venture companies would also be eligible to participate in the bidding process.

PFC has been entrusted with transmission systems associated with the Maithon project (1,000 MW), Kodarma (1,000 MW), Mejia (1,000 MW) and Bokaro project (500 MW). REC will act as the nodal agency for transmission projects associated with the North Karanpura project and other links, including the Lucknow-Bareilly line, Agra-Gurgaon line and the Sipat/Korba pooling project.