Five companies bid for NTPC's Rs 9,000-crore tender [

Five firms, including one from South Korea, have bid for NTPC's Rs 9,000-crore tender for supply of nine units of supercritical power equipment.A senior NTPC official said Bharat Heavy Electricals, L&T-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Thermax-Babcock & Wilcox, Alstom-Bharat-Forge and BGR-Hitachi, and South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries had placed bids."We would evaluate the five bids and call for price bids in 1-2 months," the official said.

In February, the country's largest power producer had initiated bulk bidding for procuring boilers and turbine generators for three projects in the states of Karnataka, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, which have a total capacity of 7,200 mw. Technical bids for a Rs 9,000-crore boiler tender was opened on Wednesday.Ansaldo Caldaie India, which is locked in a legal battle with the NTPC over a similar equipment contract, did not participate.Foreign companies had stayed away from NTPC's previous round of bulk contracts for 660-mw projects because of a precondition that requires bidders to have manufacturing facility in India. Doosan, South Korea's largest power equipment company, qualified as it is setting up a facility in Haryana for producing 3,000-mw equipment a year.

Another Rs 9,000-crore tender for procuring turbine generators will open on Friday.Supercritical technology, a forte of Chinese, Korean and Russian companies, is a relatively new area for Indian manufacturers. As per estimates of the Central Electricity Authority, about 60% of coal-based power projects in the 12th plan period and 90% coal-based capacity in 13th plan period are likely to be based on supercritical technology.

Last year, Russia's Power Machines had bid for a tender to supply 660 mw turbine generators.The company was disqualified when it refused to set up a manufacturing facility in India.