In the first week of December 2012, the state government awarded a Rs 2,184-crore gas-based electricity project to Alstom, Switzerland. The company will set up the facility at Bidadi. The company will be responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction of the 700-mw project.

But it is ironical that the company has been debarred by the World Bank. On February 22, 2012, the World Bank had said: “The World Bank group today announced the debarment of Alstom Hydro France and Alstom Network Schweiz AG (Switzerland)—in addition to their affiliates—for a period of three years following Alstom’s acknowledgment of misconduct in relation to a bank-financed hydropower project.”