Mumbai: Power Finance Corporation will open price bids for the first two ultra mega power projects, to be set up in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, on December 18, power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said on the sidelines of a seminar.

"The bids for the two mega power projects will be opened on December 18," he said. The Sasan project received 10 bids while six parties are in fray for the Mundra mega power project, he added.

PFC was scheduled to open the price bids for Sasan and Mundra projects on December 11, but could not do so in the absence of Punjab National Bank (PNB) chairman SC Gupta, who headed the apex committee evaluating the bids.

The two 4,000 MW projects entailing an investment of Rs16,000 crore each have received a total of 16 bids, which include power majors like Reliance Energy, Tata Power-Essar, NTPC, Torrent Power and Jindal Steel and Power.

Power secretary R V Shahi said the government had already allocated a coal block for the Sasan project and the process for importing coal has been initiated for the Mundra project.

The government proposes Rs500,000-crore investment in building an additional generation capacity of 66,000 MW during the 11th Plan.

Shinde said there is no derth of money in the power sector for the projects. "This is evident from the number of bids we have received for the first two projects," he added.