Bahrain’s Works Ministry has invited contractors to bid for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Tubli sewage treatment plant (STP) expansion.

The ministry issued a request for proposals (RFPs) on 20 January, and prequalified firms have until 20 April to submit bids.

MEED reported in May 2015 that 10 groups had been prequalified to participate in the tender. The authority had received prequalification documents from 25 groups in January 2014.

The prequalified groups are:

• Acciona Agua (Spain) / Mushrif Trading (Kuwait)
• Al-Ghanim International (Kuwait) / PWT Wasser (Germany) / Metito (UAE)
• Azmeel (Saudi Arabia) / Tecton ( UAE) / WTE (Germany)
• Combined Group Contracting Company (Kuwait) / Samsung Engineering (South Korea)
• Degremont (France) / Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) (Athens-based/Kuwait)
• KSC (Kuwait) / Mohamed al-Kharafi & Sons (Kuwait)
• OTV (France) / Saudi Arabian Bemco (Saudi Arabia)
• Saudi Tumpane (Saudi Arabia) / Leighton (Australia) / Wetico (Saudi Arabia)
• Six Construct (Belgium) / Canar (local) / Wabag (local)
• Vinci (France) / SAUR (France) / Zamil (Saudi Arabia)

 The scheme is being funded by the governments of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, so prequalification was restricted to:

• Kuwaiti contractors
• Kuwaiti / Bahraini joint ventures
• Kuwaiti / foreign joint ventures or consortiums
• Saudi contractors
• Saudi / Bahraini joint ventures
• Saudi / foreign joint ventures or consortiums

The expansion will double the capacity of the plant from 200,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) to 400,000 cm/d. Tubli is currently dealing with more than 300,000 cm/d of wastewater, leading to raw sewage discharges into the sea.

Tenders for consultancy contracts on pipelines and use of treated sewage effluent related to the plant were issued in January 2015.

The project is part of Bahrain’s efforts to expand and upgrade its wastewater treatment plants and networks, which are currently operating at over capacity.

The Works Ministry is also planning to build a new sewage treatment plant, Al-Madina al-Shamaliya, and a long sea outfall project. The ministry received prequalification entries from 17 companies in June 2014.

The first phase of the STP will have a capacity of 40,000 cm/d and is scheduled to be completed by 2017. The STP and associated works is also being funded by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development.