LoIs issued for eight hydro power projects

The government has issued Letters of Interest (LoIs) for eight hydro power projects of 1804 MW capacity to different local and international companies, including China International Water and Electric Corporation (CIWEC), which has been denied one project without giving reasons.
A document made available to Business Recorder said that PPIB has issued LoIs for 458 MW Karrang Hydropower project to Middle East Developers (MED); 148 MW Madian Hydropower project to Cherat Cement Company; 140 MW Patrind Hydropower project to Emirates Trading Agency (UAE); 245 MW Mahl Hydropower project to CIWEC; 655 MW Suki Kinari Hydropower project to SK Hydro Consortium; 115 MW Sharmai Hydropower project to Global Resource Consultant Group; and 53 MW Harighal Hydropower project to Descon Engineering Limited, which is already under strict scrutiny by Senate Standing Committee.
According to the document, 48 companies were registered for these projects and 42 of them purchased Pre-Qualification Documents (PQDs). The last date of submission was June 30, 2005. Twenty potential sponsors submitted their detailed proposals along with Statement of Qualifications (SoQs).
For evaluating the proposals, a committee was formulated by PPIB, comprising officials of PPIB, Wapda, respective province and AJK.
An independent consultant, Avais Hyder Numan Rizwani (AHNR), was also appointed for evaluation of SoQs for transparent award of these projects to the best possible applicants in accordance with the pre-qualification and ranking criteria formulated in the light of Power Policy 2002.
AHNR evaluated the proposals and, based on its preliminary evaluation, the applicants were requested on August 4, 2005 to provide missing information/clarifications up to August 20, 2005 in order to evaluate their SoQs.
After receipt of missing information/clarifications, AHNR completed the evaluation process and submitted evaluation report on September 12, 2005 to the PPIB. This was reviewed by PPIB's Evaluation Committee on September 13, 2005.
PPIB's evaluation committee deliberated upon the evaluation reports submitted by the AHNR consultants and unanimously suggested that the projects may be awarded as per the recommendations as mentioned earlier.
The committee, however, observed that CWE was the highest ranked for Mahl Hydropower project as per consultant's evaluation. As a whole, CWE submitted proposals for three out of seven raw sites, but the committee award it only one project, in accordance with the regulations.
CWE also showed interest in 148 MW Madian power project, but the committee recommended that LLC, which is a well known company of the UAE which showed its interest for taking up the same project very early even before the advertisement of the seven raw sites for soliciting proposals, the document said.
It is interesting to note that CWE was ranked number one by the consultants but the project was awarded to the UAE company, just saying "as a whole CWE submitted their proposals for three out of seven advertised raw hydel sites" under the following clause of the Pre-qualification Document.