Nearly seven years after the work was awarded, the contract with the Guatemalan CECHSA for the construction of a 150 MW coal plant in Honduras has been cancelled.
After several years of problems obtaining financing without making any progress in the work, Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica de Honduras has decided to formally terminate the contract with the Comercializadora de Electricidad de Centroamérica de Honduras S.A, to whom it had awarded the work directly during the administration of Manuel Zelaya.
The National Electricity Company will extend from 2 to 10 years the CECHSA company's contract .
The Comercializadora de Energía Centroamericana de Honduras (CECHSA) has been criticized for not complying with the supply of 50MW of power via bunker fuel and for failing to initiate the construction of the plant which will use coal to produce 150 MWs.
"Martinez Lozano noted that the intention of the contract reforms approved by the ENEE is to improve conditions ... he argued that the generation of 50 megawatts in a period of two years is a reflection of improvisation under which contract 013-2008 was approved in the administration of Zelaya Rosales, “and when you change the bunker from two to ten years it is because it is impossible to produce 50 megawatts in two years and is difficult for the bank to pay what is needed to generate 50 MW in a period of two years'." noted an article in Elheraldo.hn
The freezing of the tender for the purchase of 50MW, is due to financial solvency problems facing the state-owned energy supplier.
The international bidding process initiated by the Honduran Government has been beset with problems since it was announced.
The current setback is that the National Electricity Company (ENEE), is facing resource problems, making it unable to pay 34 cents per kilowatt hour to generate the power and then sell it to consumers at 14 cents.
Of the three offers received, the ones submitted by Nacional de Ingenieros and Cechsa have the greatest chance of success.
Nacional de Ingenieros's offered $14,500 for power supply, $4,500 for operations and maintenance, with no variable operational and maintenance charges. The company's performance per gallon of diesel is 14 KWh.
Meanwhile, Comercializadora de Energía Centroamericana de Honduras (Cechsa) presented an offer of $22,500 for power supply with $9,482 for operations and maintenance and $2 in variable operational and maintenance charges.
Of the 14 companies that expressed an interest, only Reincasa, Cechsa and Nacional de Ingenieros submitted offers.
The technical evaluation committee will consider efficiency, price and timescales before awarding the contract in no more than two weeks.
The president of the Honduran National Energy Committee, Napoleón Soto Velásquez, explained to Proceso Digital that, "14 companies requested the bid documents but only three have submitted offers. These three are Reincasa, Cechsa and Nacional de Ingenieros".
The construction of the 150 MW plants does not progress as expected.
Two companies, Cecsah (Comercializadora de Electricidad Centroamericana de Honduras) and Vetasa (Vehículos de Trabajo S.A.), have contracts with the National Electric Energy Company (ENEE) for the set up of 150MW coal power generation plants.
However, ENEE informed Laprensahn.com that "there is slowness in the implementation of the contracts" by both companies.
Despite the controversy that has arisen and the opposition of the Honduras Higher Court of Accountability, the contracts signed by the ENEE will stand.
The corresponding decree has already been published in the Government Daily, and the authorities of the National Electric Energy Company (ENEE) confirmed that from now on they only have to ensure compliance.