The Power Division has selected a joint venture firm from Russia and Ukraine for overhaul of unit number five of the 210MW Ghorashal Power Plant; a task that had been delayed for the last four years reportedly because there was not enough response to the two previous calls for tender.
Russian and Ukrainian joint venture M/S Consortium of Inter Rao-Engineering and LLC Kharkovenergoremond has been initially selected for the overhaul work which is expected to cost around Tk234.61 crore.
Power Division Secretary Monowar Islam yesterday sent a proposal on this regard to the Cabinet Division, which will be placed before meeting of the cabinet committee on public purchase for approval.
Sources said the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) feared that a disaster might take place unless the unit was immediately repaired.
A BPDB investigation committee found that the unit five was at risk because it had not been renovated in the last 20 years since the Ghorashal plant became operational said a senior official of the ministry concerned.
The BPDB probe committee submitted its report to the Power Division four years ago, after probing an accident at the unit number four of the plant in 2008.
According to the Power Division proposal, the power plant has operated for 158,921 hours between 1994 and 2014, causing the plant's production capacity to drop to 190MW from its original capacity of 210MW.
Two previous tender invitations in 2010 and 2012 for the overhauling of the unit had to be cancelled as per the Public Procurement Regulation 2008, when both occasions saw only a single firm participating.
In 2013, the BPDB floated its third tender on this regard and eight firms participated; but only three firms were responsive.
The evaluation committee of the Power Division later selected the Russian and Ukrainian joint venture firm from the candidates.
In September 2013, the World Bank agreed to fund a BPDB project for the re-installation of the unit four of the Ghorashal Power Plant.