Several consortiums preparing to bid on the Shuweihat 3 independent water and power plant (IWPP) in Abu Dhabi have started to get financial support from banks.

Following a meeting between bidders and project sponsor Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity (Adwea) in mid-April, six consortiums are understood to have got bank support for their bids.

The five consortiums with banks are:

• The UK’s International Power and Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), with banks including Germany’s BayernLB and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).
• Japan’s Marubeni with France’s Credit Agricole and the UK’s Standard Chartered.
• Japan’s Mitsui Corporation with Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi (BTMU) and France’s Societe Generale.
• Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation, Korean Electric Power Company (Kepco), with France’s BNP Paribas, and Japan Mizuho
• Suez with Saudi Arabia’s Samba and France’s Natixis.

Two other prequalified developers, Malaysia’s Powertek Berhad and Tenaga Nasional Berhad, are also understood to have been involved in meetings with Adwea at the same time.

Adwea had originally prequalified 15 firms to bid on the development of the project. However, one of those, Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power, is facing issues concerning its eligibility to bid on the scheme.