Deir Ammar deal awarded to Greek firm

Works will start by the end of March

Greek energy company J&P Avax was officially awarded the contract for building a gas-operated power plant in the Deir Ammar facility. The Cabinet approved the deal on Tuesday (March 12). The Ministry of Energy and Water (MoEW) expects the actual works to kick off in two weeks' time.

J&P Avax had won the tender for the project, in a consortium with US firm General Electric (GE). The tender results were announced on February 21. The budget allocated for the project was around $500 million for a plant with an output of 450 MW. The winning bidder’s offer price was $472 million.

A previous tender for the same project was won by a consortium between Lebanese company Butec and Spanish firm Abener but the results were cancelled due to “insufficient funds”, said the MoEW. Abener-Butec had offered to build a 535 MW plant for $662 million. According to the Terms of Reference, the MoEW had the right to reduce the quantity of work by up to ten percent in order to reduce the price. Negotiations between the MoEW and Abener to cut down the cost were futile.