UMPP projects a huge draw

Tata Power, Larsen & Toubro, Adani and Vedanta are am­ong the 20 companies that have bid for the government's fifth ultra mega power project (UMPP) at Bedabahal in Orissa. So have government-owned Nalco and NTPC, besides companies from groups such as Essar, Aditya Birla, RPG, GMR, GVK, CESC, Welspun, Jaypee, Torrent and Videocon. The Orissa project, Rs 17,000 crore, 4,000 MW, was put up for bidding after the fourth UMPP at Tilaiya (Jharkhand) was awarded to Reliance Power in January 2009. Meanwhile, the Central Electricity Commission is planning to select 400 hectare of land at Lodhva village in Kodinar taluka of Junagadh district to set up its 4,000-MW second UMPP at a cost of Rs 24,000 crore.