Saudi Arabian Bemco Contracting Co (Bemco) has submitted the lowest bid to build a nearly 2,000 megawatt (MW) power plant near the Saudi capital Riyadh for state-controlled Saudi Electricity Co (SEC), industry sources familiar with the bidding said.

The winning company will also build a 380 kilovolt (KV) high voltage substation, one of the sources said. He added that the deal is expected to be awarded in two to three weeks.

Bemco submitted the lowest bid of 2,371.83 Saudi riyals per kilowatt for the combined-cycle plant known as PP12, the sources said.     

They said that compared to bids that ranged from 2,419.48 to 3,163.63 Saudi riyals/KW from five other bidders: South Korea's Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Daelim Industrial, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas and a consortium of Saudi firm National Contracting Co and Siemens.

Last October, Bemco said it won a $1.4 billion contract from Saudi Electricity to expand a power plant in Riyadh.

Saudi Electricity has an $80-billion investment plan to increase its power generation capacity by 30,000 MW by 2018 to meet power demand which is growing at around 8 percent each year.  - Reuters