The Project Fiduciary and Administrative Agency (AFAP), a state agency of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Principe, invites prequalification applications by 30 January 2019 for the civil works related to the rehabilitation and expansion of the 4 MW Contador hydropower plant on São Tomé, the larger of the island nation’s two main islands. An overhaul of the run-of-river plant, which is being co-financed by the World Bank under the Power Sector Recovery Project, is considered critical given its importance as a source of renewable electricity for the country and the need to reduce power production from imported fossil fuels for both financial and environmental reasons. The plant has been in operation for about 50 years and as a result of poor maintenance only about 2 MW of its capacity is operating. At full capacity the plant accounts for 11 per cent of the country’s firm energy.
The contract for Lot 1 – Civil Works for the Rehabilitation and Extension of the Contador HPP, includes: the demolition and reconstruction with a coanda screen or a tyrolean intake; sediment trap and rehabilitation of the existing sill for the four main intakes; sediment cleaning; creation of a sediment trap; improvement of the guiding wall of two minor intakes; replacement of the gates and natural hazard mitigation for all intakes; modification of the main channel layout to avoid damage caused by landslides with excavation works for the expected installation of three underground tunnels with an approximate total length of 1.2 km; replacement of the flushing gates and reinforcement of the existing bridges; increase of the storage capacity with reconstitution of the loading chamber merging the new storage volume created with the existing one and entailing the excavation of approximately 60 000 m3 for a needed water storage of 14 600 m3; and, rehabilitation of the penstocks and interfaces with the electro-mechanical works. The electromechanical (E&M) works, comprising dismantling and replacing the existing units as well as the head gate, will be the subject of a separate contract and tendered separately. Preliminary works will require the rehabilitation of access roads or the creation of new ones depending on the project design. The work site, which is located 5 km from the village of Neves in the northwestern part of the Island of São Tomé, is mountainous with very limited access to the channel and the intakes. It is expected that prequalified contractors will be invited to submit formal bids in February 2019.
A complete set of prequalification documents in English may be acquired upon the submission of a written application to the below-mentioned address.
For further information contact Alberto Fernandes Leal, Coordinator, the Agência Fiduciária de Administração de Projectos (AFAP) ,Avenida Kwame Nkrumah, Edifício do Afriland First Bank, 2º Andar, CP 1029 São Tomé. Email: albertoleal2014@gmail.com; afap2@yahoo.com.br; horacio.dias@afap.st; Tel:+239 222 5205.
