Egypt’s PPP Central unit, on behalf of Egypt’s Construction for Potable Water & Wastewater (CAPW), is planning to open financial bids for its Abu Rawash wastewater treatment plant on 14 June.

Speaking at MEED’s Mena Water conference in Abu Dhabi on 8 June, Atter Ezzat Hannoura, Director PPP Central Unit, Ministry of Finance, Egypt, said that the bids would be opened on 14 June and that a contract award would be made the same week.

The PPP body had originally planned to award the contract at the Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh in March, but delays with technical evaluations prevented the opening of the financial bids.

The CAPW and PPP Central Unit received bids for the contract in late January, and is currently considering proposals from Kuwait’s Kharafi National and a consortium consisting of the local Orascom Construction, Spain’s Aqualia, France’s Veolia and the local Icat.

The winning bidder will sign a 20-year PPP agreement for the design, financing and expansion of the existing Abu Rawash Wastewater Treatment Plant from 1.2 million cm/d  to 1.6 million cm/d and construction of an advance secondary treatment stage for the Abu Rawash facility. The project will also include the operation and maintenance of the whole plant with a capacity of 1.6 million cm/d.

CAPW is receiving technical assistance from the PPP Central Unit of the Finance Ministry. The UK’s Trowers & Hamlins and KPMG are the government’s legal and financial advisers respectively.

The project has faced a number of delays since it was first launched. PPP Central Unit initially produced a list of prequalified companies allowed to bid to build the Abu Rawash plant in early 2011, but due to delays resulting from the political uprisings and changes in specifications, the client decided to restart the process earlier this year.

The Abu Rawash project is regarded as an important part of Egypt’s development programme, with a number of major utility and infrastructure schemes set to follow after the wastewater scheme reaches financial close.