The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) which meets on Thursday is expected to consider a proposal to give BHEL an order to supply equipment for 10 power plants using the advanced 800-mw supercritical technology. The order for the ten units would be placed by the central power generating utilities like the NTPC.

This issue has been hanging fire for close to a year now with BHEL, along with the Heavy Industry Ministry, arguing that it should be given bulk orders for ten units using the new supercritical 800-mw technology. As this technology was acquired through tie-ups with Siemens and Alstom, BHEL is of the view that if bulk orders are given, then the company would be able to absorb this technology. This strategy was adopted in the past to absorb technology for 500 mw units.

The Power Ministry, meanwhile, is of the view that rather than giving bulk orders to BHEL, the NTPC should place orders on the basis of international competitive bidding (ICB). Their argument is two-fold: bidding would enable NTPC to get the best competitive price, and that as BHEL failed to meet the equipment supply orders for the Xth Plan, thereby leading to a 50 per cent shortfall in capacity addition, the Government cannot run the risk of totally depending on it to deliver on the capacity addition front.