According to PEC, four companies are in the race for the Marib power plant consultancy mandate: a group led by the US' Kuljian Engineering Corporation; Germany's Lahmeyer International; the UK's PB Power; and Saudi Arabia's Mohamed Turki Ewbank Preece (MTEP), a joint venture between Mohamed Turki Engineering Consultancy (MTEC)and the UK's Ewbank Preece Power & Water, part of the UK's Mott MacDonald. The successful bidder will succeed Kuljian, which is providing consultancy services throughout the EPC tender process.

PEC says it is still awaiting the submission of a final technical evaluation of the bids by Kuljian for the power plant package, which was originally due to be submitted in March. It is now understood that it will be handed over in early May. Bids for the EPC contract will be opened in the same month, industry sources say.

Seven out of eight groups have now been shortlisted to bid for the single cycle, gas-fired plant, which will have capacity to produce 300 MW of power, almost a third of Yemen's existing power generation capacity of 977 MW.

The seven shortlisted consortia are: China's Dongfang Electric Corporation; Harbin Power Engineering Company, also of China; Dubai-based Mapna International, a subsidiary of state-owned Iran Power Plant Projects Management Company (Mapna), with Iran's Nasir Bonyad Industrial & Construction Company; Teknotesof Turkey; Zorlu Enerji, also of Turkey; Saudi Arabia's Al-Toukhi Contracting; and Germany's Siemens, with Arabian Bemco Contracting, also of Saudi Arabia.

The only consortium not prequalified to bid for the project was the all-Iranian group comprising Moshanir Power Engineering Consultants, Meli Sakhteman, Nasab Nirooand Azarab Energy Development Company.

The opening of offers for the generation package will be followed by the opening of financial proposals on 30 June for the other two major packages, covering the transmission and distribution network to serve the new generation unit. Ten companies are in the race for the supply and installation of a 200-kilometre, 400-kV transmission line between the planned power station at Marib and Sanaa (MEED 17:10:03). PEC is evaluating at least four bids from international consultants to advise on the project. A contract award is expected at the same time as the power plant consultancy award.

Ten contractors bid for the package to supply two gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) substations with capacities of 400 kV and 132 kV (MEED 19:9:03). Companies had the option to bid for both the transmission line and the substations or to bid for just one of the contracts; only four companies chose to price both packages.

All three contracts, for which bids were submitted last year, are now scheduled to be awarded in the second half of the year (MEED 13:2:04).