5 Firms To Supply Bujagali Project

By Joyce NamutebiFIVE Norwegian companies have won the Engineering Procurement Contract for the construction of Bujagali power project.The five companies are Veidekke International AS, ALSTOM Power AS, GE Hydro AS, Skanska International and Norplan.Norplan consultant, Lawrence Levy Omulen, told The New Vision yesterday that the contract was about US$320m (over sh556b). He said the contract awarded by AES was 44 months.The World Bank in December 2001 approved the Bujagali project paving the way for AES Nile Power to begin work on the 250-megawatt plant early this year. Omulen said the five companies are the sponsors of the proposed Karuma hydropower project.However, he said the main developer for Karuma, INTERKRAFT AS, was not participating in the engineering procurement contract for Bujagali.He said ALSTOM is the contractor and supplier for electrical equipment while GE will supply the turbines. Veidekke and Skanska will do the civil works while Norplan is the designer. The latter is also the designer for the proposed Karuma dam.Omulen said the contract was on turnkey basis meaning that they build and hand over to AES.On when to start work he said, “We are waiting for full notice to proceed. The partial notice to start has been given by AES”.He said Norplan was one of the best companies in hydropower and power systems and has been involved in many hydropower projects. The company, he said, had just completed two projects in Tanzania.Ends