Power Division invites bids for Bibiyana power plant

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M Azizur Rahman
The Power Division has invited bidders to submit proposals for installation of Bibiyana 450 megawatt (MW) gas-fired independent power plant (IPP) in the country's northeastern region.
The 450 MW Bibiyana power plant will be implemented on a build, own and operate (BOO) basis and pursuant to a 22-year agreement.
The Power Cell under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) will provide pre-qualification documents until November 8 next in exchange of a non-refundable processing fee of US$500, a senior Power Cell official told the FE Saturday.
The interested project sponsors must have previous experiences of installing similar type of power plants to pre-qualify for the project.
The bidder will be responsible for financing the project and will be required to commit a minimum equity investment in the project of 20 per cent of the total capital cost.
The sponsor will also be responsible for design, selection and procurement of necessary equipment and materials, construction, commissioning, testing, operation, and maintenance of the power generating facility at its own risk.
The World Bank (WB) might also provide funds for the project if negotiations between the selected bidder and the WB turns out to be fruitful, Power Cell officials said.
The estimated cost for installing the Bibiyana IPP would be over $300 million that will consume natural gas around 80 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) to generate 450MW electricity.
The government will provide necessary infrastructure facilities like land and natural gas connection to the project sites.
After evaluating the pre-qualification documents the Power Cell will seek request for proposal (RfP) from the prequalified entrepreneurs with technical and financial disclosures, said the Power Cell sources.
Technical capacities of the potential entrepreneurs will be judged first before opening of their financial offers, they added.
The lowest bidders, who will offer the least price for selling of electricity to the government, will be selected for installing the IPPs.
The government is willing to complete all necessary agreements with the selected bidders by May 2008.
The government has decided to install the mentioned three IPPs in line with its plan to augment electricity generation substantially by next five years.
This is, however, the caretaker government's first initiative to install IPPs to ease the severe electricity crisis in Bangladesh.
International Finance Corporation (IFC), a private sector arm of the World Bank (WB) has provided advisory assistance for processing of the bids for Bibiyana 450MW power plant.
Another multilateral donor agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) is now providing advisory assistance for processing of the bids for Sirajganj 450MW and Meghnaghat -III 450MW.
Pre-qualification for both these IPPs will also be sought immediately after the bidding documents are finalised.
Currently, a total of six IPPs are operating in the country of which only one has the capacity to generate 450MW electricity.
All these IPPs jointly produce a total of 1330MW out of the country's total electricity generation of around 3,600 MW.
The country's electricity demand is now soaring over 5,000 MW.