The Hindu Business Line : Global bids invited for Sagardighi power project

THE West Bengal Power Development Corporation Ltd (WBPDCL) has floated global tenders for the main plant package for the Sagardighi Thermal Power project.

The tender documents for the international bids which have been invited for the first two 250 MW units, would be sold from April 12, Power Department officials said.

These two units comprise the first stage of the project for which financial closure was achieved a few months back. The West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, had laid the project's foundation stone earlier this year.

The project, with a total capacity of 2000 MW, is located 240 km from here at Sagardighi in Murshidabad district.

While the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) will provide the Rs 2,057 crore required for setting up the first two 250 MW units, the remaining 20 per cent will be provided by the West Bengal Government. Although the WBPDCL was not bound to invited global tenders for a domestically-funded project, it opted for this route which it felt had quite a few benefits, like the participants having to conform to international standards.

The project is slated to be set up in three phases with the WBPDCL, (which runs all the major thermal units in the State sector) planning to set up a 500 MW coal-based thermal unit in the second phase before sealing the project with two 500 MW units based on gas.

However, till now there has been little progress on the gas-based units beyond the two MoUs signed by WBPDCL in July 2001 for importing natural gas.

Referring to the task on hand, the sources said that while the WBPDCL had set a target of implementing the first unit by March 2007 (followed by the second in another six months), as per the conditions set in the tender, the first unit should be ready in 33 months from the date of award of work. The second unit should follow three months later. The pre-bid meetings would begin from May 3, 2004, the sources said.

While the entire project would need about 2,000 acres, about 66 acres had been acquired so far, the sources said, adding that land acquisition would not be a problem for the project.

The WBPDCL, which so far is the only profitable unit in the State-controlled power sector, sells its entire generation to the West Bengal State Electricity Board. Following the state-level power reforms, all the thermal units earlier under WBSEB were transferred to the WBPDCL, which now owns and runs the 1260 MW Kolaghat Thermal Power Station in Midnapore district, the 630 MW Bakreswar Thermal Power Station in Birbhum district and two old units at Santaldih in Purulia and Bandel in Hooghly district.