Um
Dabakir used to be a sleepy village near Rabak in White Nile State, 320 kms
south of Khartoum. Today, it has been transformed into a ‘Mega-Watts’ town
hosting four steam turbines generating 125 MWs each. The 4x125MW (500 Mega
Watts) crude oil fired thermal power plant was set up by Bharat Heavy
Electricals Limited (BHEL), a Government of India, public sector enterprise.
BHEL was entrusted as the EPC (Engineering-Procurement-Construction) contractor
by the Ministry of Electricity, Government of Sudan. This was reported as the
single largest export order secured by BHEL worth 457.5 million USD. Government
of India had extended a concessional line of credit of 350 million USD through
EXIM Bank of India.
BHEL is an integrated power plant equipment manufacturer with
over 50 years of experience and has installed over 157 GW globally. BHEL is
currently engaged in the execution of all types/range of power equipment, be it
Thermal, Gas, Nuclear, Hydro or Solar. BHEL’s overseas operations began four
decades back and has presence in 78 countries across all six continents. BHEL
has references today in almost half of the African continent. It has recently
completed 28 MW Nyaborango Hydro project in Rwanda which was recently
inaugurated by the President of Rwanda. In addition, BHEL has also
recently commissioned 2x20 MW Steam Turbine and Generators for cogeneration
application at Tendaho Sugar Factory in Ethiopia.
On 4th February 2016, President
Omer Al-Bashir officially opened the Um Dabakir Power Station. Along with the
President were Minister of Water Resources and
Electricity Mutaz Musa Abdalla Salim, Ambassador of India H.E. Amrit Lugun,
Chairman and Managing Director of BHEL Mr. Atul Sobti and other senior
officials from BHEL, Ministry of Water Resources and Electricity and Sudanese
Thermal Generating Company.
After ceremoniously
unveiling the plaque and signing the documents, President Omer Al-Bashir spoke
to Indian Ambassador Amrit Lugun, BHEL Chief Atul Sobti and other senior
officials from BHEL. He said that the thermal plant is a symbol of trust, faith
and cooperation of South-South relations and India and Sudan in particular. The
President acknowledged the warm welcome extended to him by the Government of
India during his visit to New Delhi at the India Africa Summit.
President Omer Bashir appreciated the completion of Phase 1
of the BHEL project and has now signed an agreement for the extension of the
power project in its second phase. He mentioned that he would talk to the
Government of India in terms of both technology and finance. At the end he went
back to history and acknowledged India as the first trading partners with
Sudan. Later the President chaired a Council of Ministers meeting at Um
Dabakir. While appreciating the report of the Minister of Water Resources and
Electricity Engineer Mutaz Musa, the President reiterated his gratitude to
India and spoke of extension of the power project.
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