The Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP) has not yet opened the commercial bids for the planned Al-Zour North 2 independent water and power project (IWPP).

KAPP received technical and commercial bids from the three bidding consortiums on 21 June 2016. According to sources close the project, the client has still not opened the commercial proposals, or set a date when it is planning to do so.

MEED reported in October that two of the three bidders had been invited for clarification meetings for the Al-Zour North 2 IWPP. The remaining two bidders were recently asked to extend bid bonds for a second time, from October until March 2018.

The project has faced several delays in the prequalification and bidding stages. KAPP had been planning to open commercial bids and select a preferred bidder in the first half of March, but the evaluation process has taken longer than expected.

The two groups left in the running for the IWPP deal are:

• Marubeni Corporation (Japan) / Fouad al-Ghanim & Sons (local)
• Sumitomo Corporation (Japan) / Osaka Gas Company (Japan) / National Industries Holding Group (local)

According to sources, the third bidder, the consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power and Japan’s Mitsui, was not invited for further meetings or participation in negotiations.

The Al-Zour North 2 IWPP will have a power generation capacity of 1,500MW and a desalination component of at least 102 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD).

As with the first Al-Zour North IWPP, the phase 2 scheme will run on natural gas as the main feedstock and gas oil, which will be provided by the Ministry of Electricity & Water (MEW).

Kuwait’s first IWPP, Al-Zour North 1, was fully commissioned in late 2016. The second phase of the Al-Zour North IWPP and the proposed Al-Khiran 1 IWPP scheme have both faced several delays in the tendering phase as a result of a restructuring of the country’s PPP body and legislation.