Syria’s Ministry of Electricity has issued a request for qualification (RFQ) to developers to build an independent power project (IPP) at Al-Nasserieh.

Interested parties have until 27 September to respond to the RFQ. The winning company will design, finance, construct, operate and maintain the IPP.

The Ministry of Electricity aims to diversify its sources of power generation in the country and meet growing electricity demand. The Al-Nasserieh project is intended to assist in both of these objectives. The IPP is to have a capacity of 180-250MW and will run on heavy fuel oil (HFO) and/or natural gas.

This is the second time that an RFQ has been issued for the project. The first was issued in May 2009 and resulted in the prequalification of two groups in November 2009.

Greece’s Terna was successful in the first round, as was Marafeq, a joint venture of Syria’s Cham Holding and the Kuwaiti conglomerate Al-Kharafi. They will be automatically added to the list of firms prequalified in the second round.

The UAE’s Creative Energy Resources, Russia’s Escous Energy and Syria’s Kanan Trading responded to the RFQ, but were not prequalified. These firms are allowed to resubmit in the second RFQ.

The project is promoted by Public Establishment of Electricity for Generation & Transmission (PEEGT). The PEEGT is under the control of the Ministry of Electricity and is solely responsible for planning, development, operation and maintenance of Syria’s generating plants and transmission networks.

PEEGT appointed the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, as lead advisor to assist in the structuring and implementation of the country’s first IPP.

The UK’s Allen & Overy and local law firm Sarkis Attorneys at Law were selected as legal advisers on the project in July. UK-based consultant Mott MacDonald is technical adviser.