Coal news and updates

Tangedco gets consultant through ‘limited tendering’ for advise on coal import

When retired executive engineer of Tangedco S Neelakanta Pillai availed of the information on the tender through RTI, the Public Information Officer of the Coal Wing replied that it being a limited tender for consultancy works, no BQR (bid qualification requirement) had been insisted in the enquiry. “Approval was obtained from the competent authority for calling quotations under limited tender,” the PIO stated in the RTI response.

According to Tangedco, the consultant should analyse and report the feasibility of procuring imported coal on a medium-term or long-term contract basis. “This also includes assessment of the landed cost of domestic coal and imported coal from different sources with different modes of transport to Ennore, Thoothukudi and Karaikal ports and also to provide strategic options for reducing the landed cost of both domestic and imported coal. This is preparation of tender specification,” it said. Questioning the power utility’s decision to appoint the consultant without following a normal tendering process, Neelakanta Pillai said that not only BQR, but Tangedco has even waived off earnest money deposits for the MNC. Normally, the EMD would be waived for the micro, medium and small industries, he noted. “The consultants would be appointed based on their expertise and previous performance in the particular sector. For the coal import, Tangedco did not even ask for the past performance of the company before appointing it,” he said.

A senior Tangedco official said that there was no violation of any procedure in the appointment of a consultant. When asked about the need for medium or long-term coal import, the official said that supercritical thermal power plants being set up at North Chennai Stage III and Uppur are designed for operation with coal having a maximum ash content of 26.5%. “The upcoming three 800 MW units will require a steady supply of imported coal which would be blend with domestic coal for operating these plants,” the official added. Meanwhile, two units of Thoothukudi Thermal Power Station were shut down owing to low coal stock on Tuesday after the Hyderabad-based firm that got coal import tender in 2019 failed to supply 1.20 lakh tonnes of coal since March this year.