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(Top) NTPC to Award Rs 160 BN Project Post Ansaldo Bid Overrule

  • Power-equipment makers can now look forward to winning a bumper project of Rs 1600 crore from NTPC that was in put in abeyance after the tender-war with Ansaldo Caldaie Boilers took a legal turn almost two years ago.
  • The Supreme Court today ruled in favour of NTPC , overruling the High Court order with regard to the bid by Ansaldo, a joint venture of the Italian company and Gammon India .
  • Speaking at a press conference, Anup Roy Choudhury, chairman and managing director of NTPC said that the Supreme Court verdict has now paved the way for the company to move ahead with the process of awarding the projects.
  • NTPC had earlier sought bids for supercritical power generation equipment for expansion of its power plants. Bids were invited for two projects- Steam Turbine Generators (STG) and Boilers & Turbines (B&T). Though the 800 MW STG project went through, NTPC had rejected Ansaldo Caldaie's bid for the 660 MW project because it had to outsource some part of technology required for manufacturing the equipment. Ansaldo Caldaie had then challenged the decision and in March last year, the Delhi High Court ruled in favour of the company, allowing it to bid. That led to the stoppage of the financial bids of NTPC's tender process.
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  • With the hurdle now cleared, NTPC is looking to fast track the process of awarding the projects. "We are looking to award all nine 660 MW units," Choudhury said. The company will now consider the financial bids received for the project and according to Choudhury, those that had technically qualified include BGR , BHEL and L&T . With respect to the STG segment, he told that Alstom , BHEL and Toshiba have emerged qualified bidders. "Bidding for boilers and turbines will begin in a couple of days," he notified.
  • Commenting on Coal India 's Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) that has been the talking point of the day, Choudhury said that the FSAs will improve capacity for NTPC by 10%. According to the company website, the total coal-based capacity that is purely owned by NTPC is 28,195 MW.
  • "Gas-powered plants are presently operating at 60% capacity due to slip in KG basin production" he said.

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