West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) is inviting bids for the civil works portion of the 900MW Purulia pumped storage project (PPSP), which is largely funded by the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan.
The civil works package for the plant is estimated at over US$120M. Electrical Power Development Corporation (EPDC) of Japan and the state owned Water and Power Consultancy (Wapcos) of India are the consultants for detailed design, tendering, and construction supervision of the project.
Rebidding for the civil works package became necessary when the lowest bidder, Taisei Corporation of Japan, asked for a price increase of over 20% when the tender was about to be awarded earlier this year. The companies which are bidding for the civil works again are Taisei Corporation of Japan in partnership with Itochu, also of Japan, Daikerhoff of Germany and Skanska of Sweden. The civil works package involves construction of earthfill and rockfill dams, an underground powerhouse and six underground tunnels each around 1km long. The commissioning target of the first 225MW unit of the four-unit power house is March 2003; the remaining three units are to follow at quarterly intervals.