ISLAMABAD: The government got an apathetic response to its auction for three inefficient power plants, compelling it to go for a second round of bidding by the end of this month.

Only a single bidder — Siddiqsons from Karachi — came up with a bid for Jamshoro Power Company Ltd (JPCL). Two other plants — Muzaffargarh and Faisalabad — did not fetch even a single offer. The government set a combined reserve price of Rs26.625 billion for the three plants with 2,362MW of cumulative generation capacity.

The auction was called through a ‘single-stage two envelop’ bid to ensure transparency, said the Ministry of Energy (Power Division), adding the bidding date was set for May 19. “Only one company, Siddiqsons, submitted a bid for JPCL. No company submitted any bid for Muzaffargarh and Faisalabad Power plants”, the Power Division said. The date for........

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