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Chinese power at your doorstep
BS Bureau in New Delhi |
September 06, 2004 08:56 IST
Chinese consumer durables and fast-moving consumer goods may be struggling in the Indian market but power stations with instruction manuals in Mandarin may soon dot the Indian countryside if the plans of a leading company bear fruit. Dongfang Electric, which is one of the largest power equipment manufacturers in China, will be bidding for new power projects to gain a foothold in the power generation market.
The company is planning an office in Kolkata that will scout for projects in the sector. It is also working on a project with the power generating arm of the West Bengal government.
"We will open an office in Kolkata soon to look at opportunities in other power projects that are likely to come up. With a low cost of installation, we hope to bag a large number of power project contracts in India," a Dongfang Electric executive told Business Standard.
A clutch of power projects are lined up in West Bengal, including the two 250 mw units at Budge Budge to be set up by CESC.
CESC managing director Sumantra Banerjee said: "We will definitely consider the Dongfang Electric bid as it has indicated a cost of Rs 3.6 crore (Rs 36 million) for our project but there are also a few other things that we need to examine. These will be the capability of the plant to work on coal having a high ash content, and the availability of spares and equipment."
Dongfang Electric has been selected for two projects on account of its cheap offer. It has promised to build power plants at a little over Rs 3 crore (Rs 30 million) per MW against the industry rate of around Rs 4 crore (Rs 40 million) per MW.
The company corners around 33 per cent share of the thermal power segment and 40 per cent of hydel power in China. It is one of the largest power equipment manufacturers in China.
In West Bengal, Dongfang Electric has been selected for the Rs 2,100 crore (Rs 21 billion) 2X300 MW power plant project of the West Bengal Power Development Corporation at Sagardighi and a Rs 1,080 crore (Rs 10.8 billion) 300 Mw power plant for Durgapur Projects. Both companies handed over a letter of intent of Dongfang Electric recently.
Dongfang Electric officials said it was among the top 100 largest international contractors listed by the US. The company's generating equipment had installed capacity of 10,000 MW.
Dongfang Electric can produce large thermal power generating units of 300 MW and 600 MW capacity, and water turbine generator sets of 400-550 MW in batch quantity. It possesses the technology for 700 MW water turbine generators and 1,000 MW nuclear power units as well, according to company executives.