France’s Constructions Industrielles de la Mediterranee (Cnim) has re-approached lenders to finance a waste-to-energy project in Bahrain.

Cnim began discussions with banks in 2010 with the intention of closing financing in the second quarter of 2011. But negotiations stalled when the Arab spring uprisings began in February 2011. Cnim and its advisers are now targeting financial close for June this year.

The facility, which will be built at Askar, will cost about $480m to build. Cnim plans to arrange debt finance for the facility in a project finance structure and has approached banks as well as potential equity investors to finance the project.

Bahrain’s Finance Ministry selected Cnim to install the project on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis in August. Cnim will receive and treat municipal waste in Bahrain and generate power from the waste. The BOT contract will run for a period of 25 years.

The project will incinerate 390,000 tonnes a year of domestic waste from Manama. The plant will have a generating capacity of 25MW, which will feed into the grid.

Cnim is advised by UK-based law firm Norton Rose and the UK’s HSBC as financial adviser. The government is advised by the UK’s Mott MacDonald as technical consultant and law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.