El Chaparral consulting contract attracts 37 companies

A total of 37 companies have bought bidding rules from El Salvador's state power company CEL for a consulting services contract to prepare the EPC contract for the 67MW El Chaparral hydroelectric project. CEL has sold bidding packages to companies from El Salvador (13), Venezuela (3), Switzerland (1), Sweden (1), Mexico (2), Japan (1), Honduras (2), Guatemala (1), US (3), Colombia (1), Chile (2), Canada (2), Brazil (2), Argentina (1) and Germany (2), company spokesperson Ramón Moreno told BNamericas. CEL had planned to receive bids on March 14 but has pushed the deadline back to April 6. The contract includes site and project design studies needed to determine technical specifications. Document preparation, company pre-qualification and participation in the bid evaluation process are also included in the consulting tender. The project and its associated transmission lines are estimated to cost some US$135mn, which CEL will finance with its own resources. The project lies on the river Torola in San Miguel department.