NEW DELHI: Indonesia-headquartered PT Bara Daya Energi, which was earlier disqualified by Coal India Limited (CIL) to participate in its first tender for importing coal, has now been allowed by the public sector major to bid for another tender.
Meanwhile, last year in October, the Gujarat government’s power generation arm had terminated its contract with the Indonesian firm and forfeited its bank guarantee after it failed to supply coal to it.
The CIL has now changed its stand for PT Bara Daya Energi which has emerged as the lowest bidder to supply 3 million tonnes of imported coal to various power producers.
CIL has invited three tenders to procure a total of 8.4 million tonnes of coal to meet the growing power demand in the country.
The CIL had disqualified PT Bara Daya Energi on technical grounds for the first tender of 2.4 million tonnes for which Adani Enterprises has emerged as the lowest bidder.
Interestingly the CIL prohibits companies “banned by any government entity” in the past from participating in its tenders. And the interested bidders have to submit a self-declaration about their track record with the government agencies and public sector units.
In October 2021, state-owned generation company Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL) terminated its contract with the Indonesia-based company and also forfeited the security deposit of USD 1.31 lakh (Rs 99 crore) following its failure to supply coal.
GSECL chief engineer in his letter dated October 8, 2021, wrote, “You have not submitted the details till date even after giving final notice, this indicates your deliberate negligence towards the work of supply of import coal as per order. In view of this, the GSECL is not in a position to run its TPS effectively on account of want of sufficient coal reserve which you are required to maintain as per clause 2.2 of the agreement.”
“The GSECL is suffering day-to-day colossal loss and also a lot of inconvenience on account of your failure in supply of coal as per agreement. The two units of Sikka Power Plant are forced to shut down on account of want of coal,” he said.
The GSECL also banned PT Bara Daya Energi from participating in any of its tenders in future.