A top KPCL official said the selection of the EPC contractor for the Bidadi combined-cylce power project would be based on technical evaluation of the bid document. ``The technical evaluation is currently on in association with the joint venture partner,'' he added.

The Karnataka Congress party officials have urged the chief minister JH Patel that the company should play a fair practice while choosing the EPC partner for the project and they had sent a communique to the chief minister to intervene before taking a final decision.

A Congress spokesman had said that KPCL was planning to offer the award to ABB, though it was the highest bidder. Other bidders in the race for bagging the project were L&T and BharatHeavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL).

When contacted, KPCL managing director K Jairaj said the company would make sure that the joint venture subsidiary offers power to the State government at the lowest tariff. KPCL would take into consideration the following parametres before finalising a deal with the EPC partner.

* heat rate

* output

* cost of mandatory spares

* tolerance

* cost per mw

* best method to minimise cost

* noise levels

Jairaj said the company was also conducting field level verifications for assessing the performance of power plants run by the bidders in different parts of the world. ``In addition to this, factors like proven track record, reliability, dependability and high performance will be taken into consideration for finalasing an EPC contractor,'' he added.

``However, we cannot take any decision on this since the joint venture company is going to implement the project. Since the joint venture outfit was not in place earlier, we had received applications and will submitthe evalaution report to them shortly. KPC Bidadi Power Corporation's first board meeting will choose the EPC partner,'' he said.

The joint venture firm would also meet on June 21 to sign the shareholders' agreement. While KPCL will have 26 per cent stake in the venture, Unocal will hold 25 per cent and the balance will be with financial insititutions.

The joint venture outfit will have three members each from KPCL and Unocal as the board of directors. Since KPCL is the majority shareholder, it would appoint chairman and managing director, while an Unocal member would be the functional director of the company. However, the chairman of the company will not have any casting vote as per the agreement between the two firms.