Officials sources toldThe Financial Express that these names have been forwarded to the power ministry last week and that the former is now in the process of posing this proposal along with the cost estimates before the Public Investment Board (PIB), for its approval.

Following the PIB's approval, this proposal will be considered by the Cabinet committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

Sources said the basic cost quoted by the JP Ind led consortium in its bid stands at Rs 1,278.19 crore, as against its nearest competitor, Skanska-ABB, who quoted a price of Rs 1,763.34 crore. The completion cost of Rs 2195.47 crore, as quoted by JP led consortium, includes the interest during construction(IDC) component of Rs 478.8 crore.

Giving details about the sources of funding for this project, officials said that out of Rs 2195-47 crore, funds to the tune of Rs 1150.60 crore will be raised by way of direct foreign lending and Rs 444.87 crore will be raised through the bond route. The balance of Rs 600 crore will be provided by the government towards the equity of the project. This will put the debt equity ratio for the project at 2.66:1, with a completion period of 60 months from the date of sanction.

Officials disclosed that the direct foreign loan of Rs 1150.6 crore will be arranged by ANZ Investment Bank and a meeting to negotiate the terms and conditions for this loan is slated to take place this week between the bank officials and the NHPC management.

Following all government approvals, a final agreement will be signed between NHPC and the private project developer by the second week of November this year.

The present price of Rs 2195.47 crore is in contrast to the earlier negotiated bidprice of Rs 2345.88 crore of the JP led consortia in December, 1996.

However, despite NHPC's best efforts, the JP led consortium was not ready to further bring down the cost as a result of which the negotiations fell through and the corporation invited fresh tenders for the project.

Meanwhile, NHPC's criteria of evaluating the bids has put off many bidders who felt that the time given by NHPC for submission of the bids was very less. Many felt that JP-SNC Lavlin and Skanska were at an added advantage as they have been associated with this project from the last four to five years.NHPC officials, however, said that these charges were baseless and every bidder was given the same time to study the project details. It may be mentioned here that as many as 23 leading companies from India and abroad has purchased the tender documents for Chamera-II but a final response came from only two parties including JP-SNC and Skanska-ABB.

NHPC has already started commenced infrastructure work on the project site andhas announced a 10 per cent penalty charges to be borne by the contractor in the event of any delays in completing the project over five years after signing of the agreement.

After deciding the fate of Chamera-II, NHPC is now planning to take up execution of yet another mega hydro project, the 510 MW Teesta-V in Sikkim as a joint venture with the Canadian power major, Hydro Cubic.

Hydro Cubic has offered to finance as much as 50 per cent of the project cost and is currently studying the detailed feasibility report of the project. NHPC officials said that the two companies will soon enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for exploring the possibilities of working jointly on this project. Other hydro projects to be taken up NHPC, either on its own or through a joint venture includes the 800 MW Parbati-II in Himachal Pradesh and 750 MW Koel Karo in Bihar.