Bahrain’s Tender Board is set to meet on 15 October to decide on a bid deadline extension for the Muharraq wastewater treatment plant project, according to sources close to the scheme.

In early September, the bidders for the project attended meetings with the Works Ministry, the client on the scheme. The ministry informed them there was a delay in releasing a soil investigation report, which was originally due in the first week of September. As a result, the client deemed the present 28 October deadline to no longer be acheivable and asked the bidders for their preferences for a new bid submission date.

Bidders say they expect the government to announce a new date, likely to be in late December or early January, by the start of the week commencing 19 October.

A total of 10 groups expressed interest in the project in July.The successful developer will build a 100,000-cubic-metre-a-day wastewater treatment plant on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis, and a deep-gravity sewer network on a BOO transfer basis.

The ministry has asked developers to submit fully underwritten bids.

The winning bidder will set up a project company, which will enter into a 27-year wastewater treatment agreement with the ministry.