Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Iraq to Name Winners for $2.2 Billion of Power Plants Next Month

Iraq, struggling to end severe electricity shortages, will award contracts worth $2.2 billion early next month to build four natural gas-fired power plants, Electricity Minister Raad Shallal said.

“There is a big possibility that each project be granted to a different company, which will be better for us and for the company,” he said today at a press conference in Baghdad.
The four power plants in Amarah, Samawa, Diwaniyah and Basra in the south will add a total generation capacity of 2,750 megawatts, he said. Iraq currently produces 7,000 megawatts and imports an additional 1,000 megawatts, while demand is about 14,000 megawatts, Shallal said last month.
Iraq, which faces power shortages eight years after the U.S.-led invasion ousted President Saddam Hussein, has offered this year a series of tenders to build about 60 new power plants. Its electricity plants and distribution system have suffered through years of conflict, sanctions and sabotage.
Iraq’s Almco Group and Al Bilal Group Construction Co. as well as a Jordanian company bid for the $400 million, 500- megawatt plant in Amarah, Masaab Serri, an Electricity Ministry spokesman, said earlier today. A joint Iraqi-Malaysian group pulled out of the race, he said. The 25-year contract stipulates that the power station be built over a period of 18 to 24 months, he said.
Dubai-based Uruk Engineering, Almco, Al Bilal, as well as a Jordanian company bid for the plant in Diwaniya, he said, without identifying the Jordanian bidder. Uruk and Al Bilal bid for the plant in Samawa of similar capacity. The plants will each generate 500 megawatts and cost $400 million apiece.
Al Basra
MASS Group Holding Ltd. of Jordan and Kar Group of Iraq were selected as runners-up for a $1 billion contract to build the 1,250-megawatt Shatt al-Basra plant, Shallal said April 5.
In addition to the four plants, ABB Ltd., the world’s biggest power-grid supplier, and five other companies were selected yesterday to bid to develop a 250-megawatt power plant in Al Qaim in western Iraq, Deputy Electricity Minister Salam Qazaz said.
A group of South Korean companies signed contracts on April 7 to build 25 power stations, half of 50 that are planned at a total value of $6.25 billion. Caterpillar Inc. and Man SE are among companies that have bid for the remaining 25 plants, Electricity Minister Raad Shallal said March 23.
Iraqis get power from the national grid for an average of about one hour in every five. Former Electricity Minister Karim Wahid resigned last June after two people were killed in riots over blackouts and power rationing. Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki pledged to address the problem after forming his new government in December.
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