The mid-October decision not to proceed with Mirfa came as a major surprise, given that the client had been due to release in late October the request for proposals (RFP) to qualified developers for the brownfield IWPP (MEED 10:10:03).

Details of the proposed IWPP at Taweelah are expected to be finalised by early November. ADWEA has a number of options ranging from building a grassroots plant to selling off and expanding the existing B station. The B plant is the only 100 per cent government-owned cogeneration plant left in the Taweelah complex. Built in the 1990s, it has generating capacity of just over 1,000 MW and desalination capacity of 95 million gallons a day (g/d).

Given the amount of work required for the Taweelah scheme, an RFP is unlikely to be issued until the first quarter of 2004. The advisory team on Mirfa is expected to be re-engaged for the new project. It is made up of Germany's Fichtner(technical), HSBC(financial), White & Case(international legal) and Simmons & Simmons(local legal).

The Mirfa IWPP had called for an international developer to take a 40 per cent stake in a new project company, which would acquire the existing plant and add 600-700 MW of new capacity. No reason has been given for the project being put on hold.

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