A contract of around $509 million to build a 1,400-MW power plant near the northwest, industrial city of Bursa has been awarded to a venture of Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation, and Itochu with the local Enka. Client is the Turkish Electricity Generation & Transmission Corporation (TEAS - MEED 15:9:95).

The consortium was low bidder from five offers to TEAS earlier in 1995 for the gas-fired, combined-cycle plant. However, the low bid caused some controversy, because it was half the price originally quoted in direct negotiations for the contract in 1994. The negotiations were subsequently cancelled when TEAS decided to seek more competitive offers instead, in the belief it could thereby obtain a lower price.

Construction will be financed by 100 per cent supplier credit. During a visit to Tokyo by Prime Minister Tansu Ciller in late February and early March, the Export-Import Bank of Japan (Jexim Bank) indicated it would renew a funding offer for the project if the contract was awarded to Japanese companies. Bursa, the centre of Turkey's automotive industry, urgently requires the power station to fill a generating deficit at present of around 800 MW.