Prospective bidders for the contract include Abu Dhabi's Al-Jaber Energy Services, the local Aljaber Engineering, Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC), the local HBK Contractingand the UAE's Mabani.

The client has also approved a list of four consultants to bid with the main contractors. They are: the Lebanon's Khatib & Alami; the UK's Mott MacDonald; the US' Parsons International; and Tebodinof the Netherlands.

The pipeline will deliver water from the 60 million-gallon-a-day desalination complex planned on the second Ras Laffan IWPP. A developer consortium, headed by Qatar Electricity & Water Company (QEWC)and including the UK's International Powerand Japan's ChubuElectric Power Company, was named as preferred bidder for the estimated $900 million project in late September and is expected to sign the key project agreements soon.