Power Ministry Notifies Initiation of Bidding For North Eastern Region Expansion ISTS Project

The Ministry of Power, in its latest notification, issued documents related to the initiation of the bidding process for the Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) project under the North Eastern Region Expansion Project-XVI scheme. 

It comes after the REC Power Development and Consultancy Ltd (RECPDCL), a subsidiary of the Ministry of Power, sought global bids for setting up the ISTS under the scheme on March 29, 2023. The tender notice had allowed the bidders to seek clarification from the REC by the end of April 18. However, after the completion of the period, the said notice was issued, where the ministry added more details on the project. 

The latest document released by the ministry talks about the ‘transmission service agreement,’ which included details on the conditions, construction, and development of the project and several other information related to the connection, commissioning of the project, insurance, billing, and payment of transmission charges, among others. 

The RECPDCL, in the tender, claimed that bidders could bid the tender only online. REDPDCL would select the bidders for this project through Tariff-Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB). The REC claimed that the bidders would be given the task under the Build, Own, Operate, and Transfer (BOOT) basis. 

RECPDCL has fixed the last date to submit the bids as May 31, 2023. However, the tender said that the interested parties could obtain the RFP documents on all working days between 10:30 am to 4 pm and one day before the bid submission to pay the non-refundable fees of Rs 5 lakh. 

The tender claimed that the Request for Proposal (RFP) could also be downloaded by the bidders from the website of RECPDCL. But for submission of responses to the RFP, Rs 5 lakh has to be submitted. 

The Ministry of Power claimed that the Inter-State Transmission projects had been undertaken to strengthen the transmission network in the North-Eastern Region, Including new transmission lines, extension/upgradation of existing substations, augmentation of transformation capacity, and reconductoring of transmission lines among others.