The estimated $73 million contract will take 30 months and was placed by Italy's Fisia Italimpianti, which has the $508 million contract to supply and install six multi-stage flash distillation units with a total capacity of 100 million gallons a day.

The order is the second for ACC on the Shuweihat IWPP. In late December, it won a $51.7 million contract for the civil works package on the power unit. The contract was placed by Germany's Siemens, which in early December confirmed the award of the Eur 1,000 million ($895 million) turnkey contract to build the 1,500-MW power plant (MEED 4:1:02).

Under the terms of the power plant contract, the German firm will supply and install five gas turbines, two steam turbines, seven generators and all ancillary equipment. Work on the 17-month package started in February. The co-generation plant is due to be fully operational in 2004.