Opening of lone bid for Rajpura thermal project allowed
Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 10
The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) today approved the proposal of the PSEB to open the lone bid received for the 1,320-MW Rajpura thermal power project from Lanco Infrastructure Limited.

Informed sources disclosed that the board would now open the bid tomorrow. The sources said the PSERC allowed this under Clause 5.7, which specifically states that the process of procurement could be carried forward even if the number of qualified bidders was less than two.

Accordingly, the commission ruled that Lanco be allowed to continue with the bidding process with the direction that the letter of intent would be issued only after seeking its approval.

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It also ruled that Lanco had adopted a transparent process of bidding in accordance with guidelines and as such did not violate Section 63 of the Electricity Act, which states that the commission will adopt the tariff if such tariff is determined through a transparent process of bidding.

Earlier, the PSEB had approached the commission through Nabha Power Limited, which had been formed to oversee the entire bidding process. Meanwhile, former PSEB chief engineer Padamjit Singh claimed the decision of the commission had destroyed the spirit of competitive bidding.