CESC Ltd may award key contract for its 2 X 300 MW thermal power plant at Haldia in the coastal West Bengal to Shanghai Electric Corporation of China and Punj Lloyd Ltd. The estimated Rs 3,100-crore project is scheduled to be commissioned in March 2014.

Talking to newspersons, the company Vice-Chairman, Mr Sanjiv Goenka, on Thursday, said that Shanghai Electric was identified as the lowest bidder for supplying the boiler-turbine-generator package at an estimated cost of Rs 2.14 crore/MW.

Similarly at Rs 1.99 crore/MW, Punj Lloyd was the lowest bidder for supplying the balance of plant (like coal handling plant and other such peripheral facilities) equipment.

According Mr Goenka, the contracts are likely to be awarded to the lowest bidders in the next couple of months. The total project cost is estimated to be Rs 5.2 crore/MW.

According to the guidelines issued by the Central Electricity Authority, the coast-based thermal power plants should use a minimum of 30 per cent imported copal.

CESC through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) is currently commissioning a similar project at Chandrapur in Maharashtra. The plant is expected to be operational in 2013. Plans are also afoot to set up thermal power facilities in Orissa.

PE investment

Mr Goenka said that the company was in talks with a combination as many as eight foreign and domestic private equity funds to off-load 20 per cent holdings in Haldia Energy Ltd (HEL) to part finance project costs at Haldia and Chandrapur.

Haldia Energy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CESC and the holding company for its greenfield thermal projects in West Bengal and Maharashtra.

Results

Meanwhile, the company today reported 8 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 110 crore during the third quarter of this fiscal as against Rs 102 crore during the same period in the previous fiscal.

The profits came on nearly 18 per cent increase in net sales to Rs 921 crore. The company's power generation has gone up by 15 per cent during the quarter.

comment COMMENT NOW