The empowered group of ministers on ultra mega power projects, which met on Thursday, has proposed a stiffer performance guarantee fee on companies developing more than one project.

Against the Rs 300-crore for a single UMPP, companies bagging two will pay Rs 450 crore at the time of being issued a letter of intent. Those developing more than two will pay Rs 600 crore.

Officials said the changes would be incorporated in the bid documents shortly. The new norms will be applicable from the Tilaiya (Jharkhand) project and will not affect the award of the Krishnapatnam power project, bagged by Reliance Power Ltd, which also has the Sasan project.

The eGoM?s decision follows concerns about the capability of a single developer to implement more than one UMPP, each of which has a 4,000-mw capacity and requires investment of over Rs 16,000 crore.

Developers, naturally, are unhappy, pointing out that there are no such clauses in sectors like oil prospecting or airports. ?Why should the power sector alone bear the brunt,? asked one.