Phase 1 of the turnkey scheme covers the construction of four power stations with a total capacity of 3,000 MW. Works comprise the 1,000-MW expansion of an existing gas power plant south of Tehran and the construction of one 600-MW and two 700-MW stations in the provinces of Azerbaijan, Bushehr and Khorassan. Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors participating in the tender must submit proposals for the construction of all four power stations. The companies will also need to submit their own financing proposals.

Prequalification documents for the project's first phase are due to be submitted by 22 September. 'We plan to spend one-two weeks on the evaluation of the prequalification documents and to release tender documents in October,' an IPDC official told MEED on 16 September.

Among international companies following the project are understood to be France's Alstom, Italy's Ansaldo Energiaand Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

The project's second phase, to be tendered in 2003, will see the construction of another four gas power plants, providing an additional 3,000 MW of power. All plants implemented under phases 1 and 2 are set to be converted to combined cycle at a later stage.

The stations will be operated by state power generation and transmission company Tavanir, which is also involved in the tender for the country's first build-own-operate (BOO) power project. Tavanir subsidiary IPDC is in charge of Iran's private power programme.