Anil Ambani group bags third ultra mega power project

The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group was Wednesday awarded its third ultra mega power project, set to come up at Tilaiya in Jharkhand with an investment of over Rs.12,000 crore (Rs.120 billion/$2.4 billion).

"We have been awarded the Tilaiya project. We bid the lowest per unit cost of Rs.1.77. We will generate 4,000 MW," a senior official of Reliance Power told IANS after a high-powered committee named his company the winner.

Besides Reliance, four other companies had bid for the project. These included the state-run utility NTPC, Jindal Power, Lanco Infratech and Sterlite Energy. They were among the 11 that had met the pre-bid criteria, officials said.

The government had previously awarded three ultra mega power projects - two to Reliance Power at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and one to Tata Power at Mundra in Gujarat.

With the Tilaiya project also under its kitty, Reliance Power has a portfolio to generate over 30,000 MW of power in the country. The group is now developing as many as 14 medium and large-sized power projects, company officials said.

Of these, projects in western India will account for 12,220 MW, north for 9,080 MW, east for 4,000 MW, northeast for 2,900 MW and in the south for 4,000 MW.

The group's 7,480-MW project to be located at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, not far from the national capital, is expected to be the world's largest gas-fired power project at a single location, officials said.