THE Coega Development Corporation (CDC) has called for expressions of interest for the construction and operation of a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant, a project that will cost in the region of R30-billion.

This amount will be invested by the bidder selected at the end of the process.

Khwezi Tiya, the corporation’s business development executive manager, describes it as being “one of the CDC’s transformational projects” like the planned oil refinery and the Nelson Mandela Bay Logistics Park, because of the manner in which it will “transform the landscape” of the Coega industrial development zone. The CCGT will produce 2400MW of power for the national grid. It would, after the refinery, be the largest project the CDC has “enabled” to date.

It would, Tiya said, be “one of the most complex projects the CDC has worked on”. It will involve receiving, storing and regasifying liquid natural gas (LNG) and delivering natural gas to a modular CCGT power plant. It also includes the design, procurement, construction and operation of the power plant, power transmission to the main IDZ sub-station and the option of sourcing and transporting the LNG.

Whether this would mean construction of a gas terminal at Ngqura or some other form of delivering the gas would, he said, depend on the proposals received. “There may be other ideas.”

Tiya said the project was not so much about job creation as “job enablement”.

He said expressions of interest would be received until February 1. A short list would then be compiled. The preferred bidder will be selected after September.