LUCKNOW: Decks have been cleared for the 2X500 MW Anpara C power plant to be handed over to Lanco Kondapallai after the Request for Proposal Evaluation Committee approved the Hyderabad-based company's bid.

The RPF Evaluation Committee which met at the headquarters of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited here on Friday has recommended to the State Government that Lanco Kondapallai be given the responsibility to set up the power project as its bid was the lowest. The meeting, presided over by the committee's president, Principal Secretary (Energy) Ashok K Khurana , was attended by four other members of the panel: UP Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Managing Director Avanish Awasthi, Director (Finance), UPPCL, S.K. Agrawal, Secretary, Finance, GOUP, S.N. Giri and Director, Central Electricity Authority, S.K. Thakur.

The Lanco proposal was given the green signal at a closed-door meeting in which only the evaluation committee members were present.

Official sources said Lanco's bid was the lowest as compared to those of Reliance Energy of Mumbai and Essar Power of Delhi. Only three private players were in the field to develop Anpara C. Sources said Lanco had quoted the rate of Rs 1.91 per unit of electricity as opposed to Rs 2.17 per unit of Reliance Energy and Rs 2.79 per unit of Essar Power.

Following the Committee's recommendation, the ball is now in the court of the State Government. Sources said if the Government approves the Committee's recommendation Lanco Kondapallai would be only the third private player to enter the State's energy sector after Reliance Energy, which is developing Asia's first gas-based power plant in Dadri, Gautam Buddha Nagar district and Aditya Birla Group, which would set up the Roza thermal plant in Shahjahanpur district.

In fact, privatisation of Anpara C had become a bone of contention between the Government and Vidyut Karmchari Sangharsh Samiti. The joint action committee of the powermen had opposed its privatisation. Instead, the powermen wanted that Anpara C be built by Vidyut Utpadan Nigam.

Recently, the Government expressed its willingness to avail loan facility from Japan Bank of Industrial Cooperation (JBIC) for setting up the Anpara D power station. This meant that while Anpara A, B and D will be with Utpadan Nigam, Anpara C is to be handed over to the private sector.

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