CHANDIGARH: Kolkata-based Eminent Electricity Distribution was the highest bidder for the privatisation of the electricity department with Rs 817 crore against a reserve price of Rs 174 crore, defeating giants like Tata and the Adani group.
The company is a subsidiary of Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Ltd, a flagship of RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group.
The empowered committee opened the bids on Wednesday after UT administrator V P Singh Badnore had approved the report of the technical evaluation committee. The file will be forwarded to Badnore for approval. The UT will compile a report and send it to power ministry for cabinet approval.
After SC relief, UT speeded up power project
After relief from the Supreme Court, the administration had recently speeded up the project.
In June, the apex court had stayed the Punjab and Haryana high court’s May 28 order of staying the privatisation process on the application filed by Gopal Dutt Joshi, general secretary, UT Powermen Union. The UT had then moved the Supreme Court.
Recently, the administration had opened technical bids of all seven companies and submitted the case to the technical bids evaluation committee. The UT was planning to open the bids in the first week of June, but the union had moved the high court.
The UT engineering department had issued notice on November 9, 2020, and invited bids for distribution licence in Chandigarh. The bids closed on February 8.
On March 8, UT had issued an amendment to the bid document and extended the bidding date to March 18. The amendment also provided an opportunity to new bidders to submit their bids and allowed the existing bidders to modify theirs.
