Bhubaneswar: State Government has issued Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) for e-auction of three mineral blocks for the second time as sufficient numbers of bidders have not came forward in the first attempt.
The Directorate of Mines in the Steel and Mines Department has issued the notice for grant of mining lease for Teherai iron ore & manganese block, Behera-Banjipali limestone block and Naringapanga graphite block.
Out of the three mineral blocks, Behera-Banjipali and Naringapanga are virgin blocks while the lease of Teherai has expired.
Interested and eligible bidders will have to register themselves on the website of MSTC Limited (https://www.mstcecommerce.com/auctionhome/mlcl/index.jsp).
The model documents and summary of the blocks is also available on the website. On successful registration, they will obtain login ID and password, which is a necessity for participation in the e-auction process.
As per the NIT, the interested bidder can purchase the tender documents after payment of a tender fee on the e-auction platform’s website till 2 February, 2022 while 7 February, 2022 is the last date for submission of the bid.
The tender fee for Teherai iron ore and manganese block is Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh for other two blocks.
The bidders who had purchased the tender document for Teherai block in response to the Notice Inviting Tender dated 7 July, 2021 and the tender documents for Behera-Banjipali & Naringapanga blocks in response to the NIT dated 22 October, 2021, will not require to pay tender fee again, it said.
As the State Government has not received the required number of bidders in response to the NITs issued earlier, the three mineral blocks have been put for auction under second attempt, sources said.
These blocks are being auctioned under second attempt of auction as per clause (b) of sub-rule (11) of rule 9 of Mineral (Auction) Rules 2015 and amendments thereunder.
Further, the State Government has debarred Tarama Apartment Private Limited from participating in Teherai iron ore and manganese block auction process. This company has become defaulter as it has failed to take the mine even after successfully bidding, the sources said.