Leading international power contractors are keenly awaiting a decision by the state Turkish Electricity Generation & Transmission Corporation (TEAS) over the contract to build the Afsin-Elbistan C thermal power plant.

The 1,400-MW power plant has been included in the 1998 investment programme and has been approved by the government. However, TEAS is not going to issue a separate tender for the plant but award a contract on the basis of prices submitted last year for the identical Afsin-Elbistan B power plant. A consortium led by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is finalising a $1,500 million contract with TEAS for Afsin-Elbistan B.

Industry sources say that TEAS has a number of options open to it. It could award Afsin-Elbistan C to MHI as it was low bidder for Afsin-Elbistan B. However, a more likely outcome is that TEAS will initiate talks with the consortium led by Zurich-based ABB Asea Brown Boveri, which came second in the bidding for Afsin-Elbistan B, and look for ways of reducing its price to the level submitted by MHI. ABB's partners are Germany's Siemens, Japan's Nissho Iwai Corporation, the Anglo-French GEC Alsthom and Guris, Dogus and Kutlutas, all local.

In addition to talks with ABB, TEAS could also open talks with consortialed by Austria Energy & Environment and the US' Stone & Webster which came third and fourth in the bidding for Afsin-Elbistan B. However, this option is thought unlikely since their prices were significantly higher than those submitted by MHI and ABB (MEED 27:3:98).