Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power has emerged as the frontrunner for the planned Umm al-Quwain independent water project (IWP).

According to sources close to the project, Acwa Power is the sole bidder left in negotiations with the client, the UAE’s Federal Electricity & Water Authority (Fewa), and is expected to be selected soon.

MEED reported on 28 February that a consortium of Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power and the local Tecton had submitted the lowest tariff price for the planned IWP.

The Acwa Power-led consortium submitted a tariff price of $c91.58 per thousand imperial gallons (TIG), 12 per cent lower than the $c102.75/TIG tariff offered by the second-lowest bidder, a consortium of Saudi Arabia’s Abdul Lateef Jameel and Belgium’s Besix.

Fewa, the utility provider for the Northern Emirates, opened the commercial submissions from the two remaining bidders on 28 February. MEED reported that the utility had received proposals from three bidders on 13 February for the 45 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD) IWP, but had subsequently discounted one of them.

In June last year, Fewa announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Umm al-Quwain executive council for the land leasing agreement for the plant, and that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) had started. Austria’s ILF Consulting Engineers was awarded the consultancy services deal for the IWP in January 2017.