State-run Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has set December 20 as a new deadline for bids to build a $2-2.5 billion power plant in Riyadh, a company executive said on Saturday.

The deadline was extended due to technical issues, Amer al-Swaha, head of the independent power producer (IPP) at SEC said. The initial deadline for the 2,000 megawatt power plant project in Riyadh was December 7.

"The reason was the preparation of technical information, such as site survey, it took us more time than we expected. There is no other reason," he said.

"We are determined not to have further extensions ... They (consortiums) are the same, nothing has changed," he said.

Five consortiums are preparing bids for the Riyadh plant, Swaha said last month.

They are: International Power with Saudi Oger and Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO); GDF Suez with Al Jomaih; Mitsubishi Corp with Acwa Power and Japan's Tokyo Electric Power; Tenaga Nasional Berhad of Malaysia, Sumitomo Corp and Saudi Binladin Group and Japan's Marubeni in an alliance with Kansai Electric of Japan and Saudi Masader.

The combined cycle plant will start its first phase of operation by 2012, Swaha said in July.-Reuters