Sen seeks PM's intervention in panel report on BHEL

New Delhi: Calling reports of Chinese power equipment being superior to those made by BHEL as “shocking”, Rajya Sabha member Tapan Sen has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking to look into the issue as it maligns a state-run entity.

Sen’s recent letter comes amid articles that a Planning Commission report said that Chinese equipment is better than those manufactured by Bharat Heavy Electricals.

According to Sen, such a report is shocking and reflect deliberate “maligning and tarnishing” the image of a government-owned company by an “authority appointed by the same government”.

Sen pointed out that in 75 percent of projects involving BHEL, the state-run company’s obligations are limited to boilers, turbines and generators, which make up for 40 to 45 percent of total project work.

“In almost all those projects, delay in commissioning, wherever it occurred, had been due to delay in those ‘rest of the activities’ for which in no way BHEL can be held responsible,” the letter said.

The power equipment giant is facing stiff competition from private players, especially Chinese entities such as Shanghai Electric Group. This is mainly because many domestic power project developers are placing orders with Chinese companies.

BHEL synchronised 9,442 MW of generating equipment, contributing 57 percent of total thermal capacity addition and 89 percent of hydro capacity addition in 2010-11.

“Another 500 MW could have been commissioned by BHEL in the same year, had the project developers not defaulted in meeting their obligations in providing other critical inputs,” he added.

In current year (2011-12), Sen said that despite BHEL being ready to synchronise another 2,000 MW plants, “same could not be done owing to failure of the developer in meeting critical Balance of Plant requirement”.

When it comes to comparative quality and competing capability between BHEL and its rivals, Sen stressed that Planning Commission’s allegation does not stand.

An independent analysis of 40 power plants commissioned in the last two years showed that BHEL’s products are in no way inferior to that of Chinese make.

“It has also been revealed by similar studies that secondary fuel oil consumption of Chinese sets is 12 times more than in BHEL sets… despite 15 percent initial savings on capital costs, the life cycle cost is lower for BHEL equipment due to lower operational costs, better Plant Load Factor and lower downtime,” the letter said.

Sen has urged the Prime Minister to look into veracity of facts regarding the Planning Commission report.

“… such unwarranted maligning of a public sector Navaratna company like BHEL by Planning Commission need to be remedied by appropriate action like clear cut direction for withdrawal of such report through public statement and a clear undertaking to chairman Planning Commission for refraining from such type of activities in future,” the letter noted.

To buttress his argument, Sen has also said that even the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has raised the issue of loss suffered by HPGCL for the Hissar project due to higher secondary fuel oil consumption by Chinese equipment. “Other independent international analysts echo the same sentiment about the superiority of BHEL equipment,” he added.

PTI