EXCLUSIVE: Developers finalise proposals for major Saudi desalination project

27 August 2018
The plant will have a capacity of 450,000 cubic metres a day

Developers are finalising proposals for the planned Shuqaiq 3 independent water project (IWP) in Saudi Arabia.

Earlier in August, the client, Water & Electricity Company (WEC), extended the original 27 August deadline submission date to 3 September to give bidders more time to work on proposals, following the Haj and Eid break. According to sources close to the programme, no further extensions have been granted and developers are finalising their proposals for the IWP, which will have a capacity of 450,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d).

MEED reported in February that 15 firms had been prequalified to participate in the Shuqaiq 3 tender. The client prequalified 12 developers as both ‘Lead Member’ and ‘Technical Member’, and three additional firms were prequalified solely as technical members.

The prequalified firms are:

Lead Member & Technical MemberTechnical Member
ACWA Power (local)Bahr Rawafid (local)
Acciona Agua (Spain)SNC Lavalin (Canada)
Cobra (Spain)Marafiq (local)
Engie (France)
FCC Aqualia (Spain)
JGC (Japan)
Marubeni Corporation (Japan)
Mitsubishi Corporation (Japan)
Suez (France)
Sumitomo Corporation (Japan)
Valoriza (Spain)
Veolia (France)

The plant will use membrane reverse osmosis (RO) technology, and will be developed in the town of Shuqaiq, located on the Red Sea coast about 137 kilometres north of Jizan.

The Shuqaiq project will be developed under a build, own and operate model (BOO), with a project company to be formed and owned 100 per cent by the successful bidder. The successful bidder will sign a 25-year water purchase agreement (WPA) with WEC, which will be the offtaker for the produced water.

The client is aiming to tender the project and select the preferred bidder by 1 November, and hopes to sign the water purchase WPA with the successful bidder on 13 December.

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