The state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) is set to sign a contract with two companies from Spain and South Korea for the construction of the 400MW gas-based combined cycle Bibiyana South Plant in Habiganj.
“We will sign the companies [Isolux Ingenieria SA of Spain and Samsung C&T Corporation of South Korea] up as EPC contractors on Monday,” PDB Chairman Md Abduhu Ruhulla told the Dhaka Tribune.
For the first time, the government will be using the Energy Development and Maintenance Fund - created by introducing an additional amount to electricity prices to finance this project – for building the plant in place of the cancelled Bibiyana 1 project by the Summit Group.
The PDB – under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources – will implement the project.
The gas-based power plant project was planned considering the availability of gas. US-based oil giants Chevron recently completed the Bibiyana gas field expansion project, launched two years ago, aiming to produce an additional 300mmcfd of gas.
The government selected Isolux Ingenieria SA of Spain and Samsung C&T Corporation of South Korea, which made the lowest bid of $288m out of six bidders in the tender call, to build the plant as engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors.
“After signing of the EPC contract, the PDB requires the owner’s engineer for the implementation of this project. The construction period for this project is 900 days, including a simple cycle completion time of 720 days,” Abduhu Ruhulla said.
The PDB invited the expression of interest (EOI) from reputed international engineering consulting firms for providing consultancy services as owner’s engineer for the construction of the plant.
Alongside the Bibiyana South, another plant named Bibiyana 3 with 399MW gas-based power plant will be built under the PDB.
Around Tk2,000 crore will be used from the Energy Development and Maintenance Fund, the consumers’ bill fund created by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC), for constructing the power plant.
“This is a good sign for us. I am very happy to know that for the first time funds will be used from the consumers’ bill fund to build the power plant. We created the fund to develop the power sector,” BERC Chairman AR Khan told the Dhaka Tribune.
“We are pleased. We want to see the power plant completed in time as there will be no fund crisis to build the plant. Even gas is available there,” said Prof M Shamsul Alam, energy affairs adviser for the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB).