According to official sources, the state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) has selected the Dongfang Electric as its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor to install the plant on ECA (export credit agency) financing.
Under the ECA financing, the bidder has to arrange the required fund to implement the project at its own cost like supplier`s credit financing. After implementation, the government will repay the loan including its interests.
Normally, such credit is very costly one as the financier charges higher interest rate compared with other financing modalities.
Official sources said the Dongfang was selected at a contract value of $68.485 million (equivalent to Tk 568.29 crore). However, including taxes, the cost stood at Tk 593.39 crore.
PDB officials said the power plant will be a high speed diesel-based one to be installed at Syedpur replacing the existing 20 MW power plant there.
They also informed that the PDB had to invite tender twice to find a suitable bidder for the project as all the 11 bidders were disqualified in the first-time tender.
In the second tender, according to a Power Division document obtained by UNB, some 10 bidders submitted their proposals of which Dongfang Electric came out to be the qualified bidder offering the lowest per kilowatt hour (each unit) generation cost.