Patna, Dec. 21: Bihar has attracted the attention of big power players such as Sterlite, Lanco and Adhunik group of companies.

Sources in the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) said the three companies have shown interest in setting up a power plant at Chausa in Buxar under “Case II bidding”. The plant would attract a minimum investment of Rs 6,500 crore in the state, which has hitherto failed to attract any major funding in the sector.

It could not be independently verified from the three companies about their interest in the project.

Under “Case II bidding”, the government would get all clearances — for water, forest, land acquisition, coal linkage etc — and then invite tenders from power project developers. The government, however, has not received any proposal for setting up power plants at Kajra (Lakhisarai) and Pirpainty (Bhagalpur), dealing a blow to its attempt to revive the sector in the state.

The BSEB intends to set up three power plants of 2x660MW (1,320MW) each at Chausa, Kajra and Pirpainty.

“We have received proposal from three companies — Sterlite, Lanco and Adhunik — for setting up the power plant at Chausa in Buxar. These companies would now take part in financial bidding for which they can submit their bids till December 29. After this, the bids would be opened. The bidder who would submit the lowest tariff rate would be awarded the tender for setting up the plant,” a top official at the electricity board said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak on the issue.

Electricity from these units would be available to power-starved Bihar after four years of the signing of the purchase agreement with the successful bidder.

Asked why proposals were not received for Kajra and Pirpainty, the official said the board was not ready to give a commitment on providing coal linkages for the two projects. “We will have to scrap them (the projects) or take some other route,” he said when asked about the fate of the proposals.

Bihar would get 85 per cent of share of power generated from the Chausa facility and the remaining 15 per cent would go to the companies which would construct the plants.

The BSEB board held a pre-bid conference on September 29 with around two dozen companies for setting up the plants at the three places with an accumulated installed capacity of 3,960MW.

The board official said the companies had been told that the state government would facilitate coal linkage for only the Chausa (Buxar) project. For the other two projects at Bhagalpur and Lakhisarai, the developers would have to arrange coal on their own.