ISLAMABAD, July 15: Twelve power companies on Tuesday came up with offers to add 3,839MW of power generation capacity on fast-track basis before September 2009 against the government’s demand of 1,500MW.

The technical bids were opened by the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) in the presence of representatives of the bidders.

A bid evaluation committee comprising representatives of PPIB, ministry of finance, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) and Wapda would open financial bids on August 2 after their technical evaluation.

Besides the local investors, companies from the United States, Canada, the UAE, Turkey and Mauritius took part in the bidding.

Water and power secretary Ismail Qureshi, who presided over the open bidding, said the bids would be declared successful on the basis of minimum project implementation schedule and lowest tariff. He said the government wanted to set up 1,000MW of power generation plants by the independent power producers in 12 months and another 500MW of rental power projects in six months to overcome power shortage in the country.

Nine companies submitted their bids for thermal IPPs with a total generation capacity of 3,060 against government’s requirement of 1,000MW while three companies offered to bring 779MW of rental power projects against a requirement of 500MW.

The technical evaluation committee would declare successful bidders on technical grounds by July 30, followed by opening of financial bids on August 2. On August 4, the government will announce final results of successful bidders on the basis of implementation schedule and lowest tariff. This will be followed by issuance of letters of acceptance for rental power projects to be commissioned in six months while letters of support would be issued to IPPs to set up their projects in12 months. This process will be completed by August 15, 2008, the water and power secretary said.

The companies that submitted their bids for IPPs included Creative Energy (170MW furnace oil-based at Chakwal), Ruba Energy (166MW furnace oil-based at Kalashah Kaku near Lahore), Pace Power (1,000MW diesel-based at Muzaffargarh), Fatima Power (200MW gas-based near Okara), Cavalier Energy (500MW LPG-based at Port Qasim), Saba Generation (500MW furnace oil-based at Arifwala in Punjab), Attock Oil (202MW furnace oil-based at Mandi Bahauddin), Progas Energy (345 MW LPG-based at Port Qasim) and Pak Electron (304MW furnace oil-based near Lahore).

The companies that offered to set up rental power projects included Walters Power (furnace oil-based 230MW near Korangi), Karakey (heavy fuel oil-based 249MW near in Karachi and Cavalier Energy (LPG-based 300 MW plant at Port Qasim).

The Request for Proposal (RFP) document for these projects was prepared by PPIB in consultation with all the relevant stakeholders including leading power plant equipment manufacturers, IPPs and Wapda.

The IPPs are expected to start their operation by August 2009 and rental projects are expected to start commercial operation by February 2009.