10 June 2015, Monrovia — The Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) has signed a contract with DAWNUS International Ltd, a company based in the United Kingdom, for the Main Civil Works Contract 2A in continuation of the Rehabilitation of the Mount Coffee Hydropower Plant.
This contract includes reconstruction and rehabilitation of the main dam, powerhouse, spillway, and intake; and other infrastructure and road works. The signing of this contract represents the achievement of a very important milestone in the rehabilitation of the Mt. Coffee Plant: It secures the schedule for the project, and it marks the end of the construction procurement.
The Main Civil Works under Contract 2A will be implemented in close synergy with Contract 1 (Voith Hydro for generating equipment), Contract 2B (Andritz Hydro for hydraulic steelworks and auxiliary equipment), and Contract 5 (PSM-JV for camp construction and services), as the scopes of work of each of these contractors is highly interdependent. Implementation of the project civil works within a specific timeframe is critical for the achievement of the other project works at the intake, spillway and powerhouse.
Hence, with signing of Contract 2A a critical milestone in the procurement chain has been accomplished rounding the full scope of the civil work activities together with the implementation of the camp works (Contract 5). It should be noted that there are still several potential risks to the timely achievement of the project schedule, such as weather and ground conditions, interface and coordination issues, or some other unforeseeable events. In particular the timely implementation of civil works on dam construction is vulnerable to weather and ground conditions.
Activities of the project have significantly progressed since the end of the Ebola Outbreak. With the signing of Contract 2A, the procurement for the plant construction has been completed, and the project management team (LEC and its Owner’s Engineer, Norplan-Fichtner JV) has been able to finalize the project schedule. The target for first power has been announced as December 2016, one year after the initial target date, which is considered an achievement considering the time lost and other challenges encountered as a result of the Ebola Outbreak.
DAWNUS International Ltd was successful in completing the Enabling Works contract for the Mt. Coffee Project, which included urgent civil works that were necessary in early 2014 in advance of the main construction works. The Enabling Works consisted of the construction of three cofferdams, construction of the advanced camp, removal of vegetation from the project infrastructure, cleaning of the powerhouse, and soil testing along the transmission line corridors.
The purpose of these works was to provide a safe working environment for workers and allow access to and inspection of the submerged parts of the hydropower plant structures to perform preliminary analysis of prevailing conditions of the structures in support of the design process. The work was completed in September 2014 shortly after site works were suspended due to the Ebola crisis.
DAWNUS International Ltd, established in 2001, is involved in general civil works, engineering, building and mining contracts in the UK and Africa. The Contract 2A was awarded following a second round of international competitive bidding (the first round was cancelled due to poor responsiveness, and the re-tendering was based on a modified scope).
The procurement process included an initial qualification of bidders; a process which selects the best potential contractors based on demonstrated technical experience, financial capacity, and qualified personnel. The qualified bidders are then invited to submit full technical and financial proposals. Following the evaluation of these documents, based on criteria included in the bidding documents, Dawnus’s proposal was judged the most responsive and will provide best value to the project.
The rehabilitation of the Mount Coffee Hydropower Plant is co-financed by the Government of Norway, Government of Germany, European Investment Bank and the Government of Liberia. Project progress is frequently updated on the Project Web site at www.mtcoffeeliberia.com.
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