It is reported that the financial closure of the Krishnapatnam ultra mega power project of Reliance Power Limited would be achieved in the coming 3 months.

Lenders to the INR 20,000 crore project, led by IDBI, have to commence due diligence for the project. Awarding contracts for boiler, turbine and generators would be completed in 2 months. These critical components component constitute 50% of the project cost.

Officials said that engineering majors such as BHEL, Doosan and L&T would be bidding for the contracts. These companies have submitted technical offers and commercial offers are yet to be negotiated. The EPC for the project would be undertaken by the group company Reliance Infrastructure Limited. Total land requirement for the project is 2,625 acres and it has been able to purchase about 65% of the land required for the project. The Andhra Pradesh government is in the process of acquiring the remaining land for it.

According to the schedule the first unit of the Krishnapatnam project is to be online by September 2013, but Reliance Power is making efforts to advance the commissioning of the unit by mid 2012. The 4,000 MW coal fired project would have 5 units of 800 MW each. The coal requirement for the project is estimated to be 14 million tonnes per annum at 80% plant load factor. Fly ash from the plant would be utilized for the upcoming cement plants of the group. A portion of ash would also be offered to cement manufactures in Visakhapatnam area.