Egypt’s Housing, Utilities & Urban Development Ministry plans to issue a request for qualification by 20 October for its planned wastewater treatment plant at 6 October City near Cairo.

The project is only the second public-private partnership (PPP) scheme to be offered in the country’s wastewater sector.

The plan calls for a private developer to design, build, finance, operate and maintain a 150,000-cubic metre-a-day (cm/d) wastewater treatment plant under a 25-year concession before transferring the asset back to the ministry. The winning bidder will also operate and maintain an existing 100,000-cm/d plant.

Ernst & Young is the financial adviser on the project. A consortium of the Netherlands’ Ecorys and DHV, with Chemonics Egypt, is the technical adviser. The legal adviser is UK law firm Trowers & Hamlins. The US’ CH2M Hill is the environmental adviser.

The ministry also intends to issue a separate request for qualification for the planned upgrade of the 1.2 million-cm/d Abo Rawash wastewater treatment plant by early December.

A private developer will upgrade the plant, which is located in the Giza gov-ernorate, to improve the water quality.

Like the project in 6 October City, the winning bidder will design, build, finance, operate and maintain the Abo Rawash plant under a 25-year concession.

The financial adviser for Abo Rawash is KPMG.