Companies are still waiting for tender documents to be issued for Qatar’s next independent water project (IWP), planned at Ras Laffan Industrial City.

Qatar’s General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) received prequalification entries from developers in July last year for the IWP, which will utilise reverse osmosis (RO) technology. The plant is planned to have a capacity of 45 million gallons a day (g/d).

The Ras Laffan IWP site will have a layout and infrastructure for an ultimate capacity of 95 million g/d, which will enable future expansion of the facilities.

According to sources in Doha, Kahramaa is expected to wait until it has received bids for the proposed Facility D independent water and power project (IWPP), planned at Qatar Economic Zone (QEZ), until it issues tender documents for the Ras Laffan IWP. The submission date for the Facility D IWPP is 4 April. The proposed plant will have a power generation capacity of 2,400MW and a desalination capacity of 130 million g/d.

The Facility D plant will have an RO component and this, together with the planned Ras Laffan project, will be the first large-scale facilities in Qatar to use RO technology.

Kahramaa’s last major desalination project was the $500m Ras Abu Fontas A2 plant, which is being developed by the local Qatar Electricity & Water Company (QEWC). QEWC completed financing for the project in January 2013.

QEWC is developing a 72 million g/d multi-stage flash desalination plant next to the Ras Abu Fontas A1 plant. The UK’s HSBC is the financial adviser on the scheme. Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation and Toyo Thai Engineering Company have been appointed to build the facility. The project is expected to be completed and commissioned by June 2015.