KATHMANDU, JUN 03 –
Two years after the transformer scam came to light, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has signed an agreement with a Sri Lanka-based company to procure new transformers.
The state-owned power utility signed an agreement with Sri Lanka’s LTL Holding to purchase 1,040 units of transformers.
Eight companies from Nepal, China, India, Turkey and Sri Lanka were in the fray for supplying the machine.
As per the agreement, the Sri Lankan company will have to deliver the transformers within March 2015. The delivery will be done in four phases with each consignment of 250-260 transformers.
According to NEA, the company will conduct a test of the transformers at the Central Power Research Institute (CPRI) in India before supplying them to the NEA. The agreement between the NEA and the company says an international standard institute will test type/design of the transformers.
“It has been more than two years since the NEA last purchased transformers,” said Nutan Dev Bhattarai, deputy manager at NEA’s Material Management Department. “As of now, we don’t have a single transformer to replace dysfunctional ones.”
The transformers will come in 50kVA, 100kVA and 200kVA capacities in the first lot. As per the agreement, LTL Holdings will have to deliver the first lot within 240 days after the type/design test. “The test will take around three and half months,” said an NEA official.
There are no such institutions like CPRI in the SAARC region besides India and that the NEA decided to conduct the test there, according to the NEA. “Even after conducting the test in India, the transformers will also examined thoroughly in Nepal and the units failing to meet the standards will be sent back to the manufacturer,” said the official. The first consignment will arrive within October 2014, followed by second in December 2014, and the third and fourth consignments in February and March 2015, respectively. “The transformers are being imported in four lots to make sure not a single unit has issues.”
Of the total transformers being imported, 100 units will come in 15kVA capacity, 225 in 25kVA capacity, 350 in 50kVA capacity, 240 in 100kVA capacity, 100 in 200kVA capacity and 25 units in 300kVA capacity.
The NEA has been facing severe problems for the last two years due to the unavailability of transformers. According to the NEA official, there is a need for 2,000-3,000 transformers.
In 2012, a probe into the transformer scam had shown the units imported from China and Thailand were sub-standard. The probe committee had examined 4,657 transformers installed at several stations and sub-stations across the country.
According to the NEA, none of the companies that had sold transformers to the NEA last time participated in the tender process this time.
Source : The Kathmandu Post
