Big hydropower contract rules being relaxed

The country can produce up to 40,000MW of electricity through simple run-of-the-river projects at about 8 cents per unit compared with 15-18 cents per unit of thermal power. – File photo

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided in principle to relax conditions for awarding contracts to international companies for big hydropower projects, by doing away with the international competitive bidding (ICB) required under the existing procurement rules.

A senior government official told Dawn that from investors’ point of view the procedure for taking up mega projects for investment on build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) basis involved a lot of time and money for evaluating data relating to a project, site visits and formation of joint venture companies. For this reason, renowned private investors are hardly interested in taking part in the ICB.