Six international companies submitted bidding documents yesterday for the construction of the Bibiyana South, a 400MW gas-based combined cycle power plant project in Habiganj, which will become the first power plant to be constructed with funds collected from a portion of consumers’ electricity bills.
Around Tk1,800 crore will be used from the consumers’ bill fund set up by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission – named Energy Development and Maintenance Fund – for the construction of the plant.
A power plant of this capacity requires at least Tk4,000crore to be constructed, while every year nearly Tk700crore are deposited to the fund.
The Power Development Board (PDB) decided to construct the power plant project with its own fund as a private company apparently “failed” to build a power plant named Bibiyana 1 at the site because of fund crunch.
“Six companies submitted tender. The consortium did not submit bid security that excluded the company from the process. The other five companies will go through technical and financial evaluation. Then we will select a company for the work,” PDB Chairman Md Abduhu Ruhulla told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
He added: “The whole process will be completed within three months and it will be sent to the cabinet committee on government purchase. Then a contract will be signed with the eligible bidder.
“The land for construction of the power plant was acquired earlier and the private enterprise, Summit Group, failed to work on the project. So, we will construct another plant on the land,” the PDB chairman said.
In May 2011, the government had signed agreements with the Summit Power under the independent power producer guideline to install three power plants – the gas-fired Bibiyana 1 and the 341MW Bibiyana 2 in Habiganj, and the 337MW dual-fuel Meghnaghat in Narayanganj – with a combined production capacity of 1,019MW.
The simple cycle of the plants was scheduled to start in August last year while the combined cycle production next August.
Meanwhile, the Summit Group has claimed $45m in compensation from the government and asked it to return $3m the company deposited as security, after the PDB cancelled the agreement for the 341MW Bibiyana 1 power plant. The compensation issue is to be settled by the High Court.
On the last date for submission, the companies that submitted documents are Consortium of China National Electric Engineer Co Ltd and Shenzhen Shennan Gas Turbine Engineering Technology Co Ltd from China, Isolux Ingenieria SA of Spain and Samsung C&T Corporation of South Korea, Consortium of Hyundai Engineering Co Ltd and Daewoo International Corporation, Consortium of China National Technical Import and Export Corporation and China National Corporation and Overseas Economic Corporation, joint venture of Harbin Electric International Co Ltd (HEI-CCCE) and CCC Engineering and Tecnicas Reunidas SA of Spain.