Bids for the first of two consultancy service contracts were submitted on 19 October. The contract covers the verification and evaluation of tender documents.

Five firms had been invited to bid for the contract: Serbia’s Energoprojekt, Canada’s SNC Lavalin, Lebanon’s Khatib & Alami (Shair & Partners), and two UK firms, PB Power and Mott MacDonald.

A tender for a second consultancy contract is due to be issued before the end of the year. It will cover site supervision and the review of design documents.

Kahramaa originally tendered the work as one contract, with bids due to be submitted by 26 October. The state-owned utility is understood to have split the contract to speed up the project to meet fast-growing demand.

It has already pressed ahead with three engineering, procurement and construction tenders, which had been due to be evaluated by the winner of the first consultancy contract.

Bids for overhead lines are due on 18 January, followed by bids for the construction of ground cables on 25 January and substations on 1 February. “Kahramaa is in a hurry because the tender verification and preparation of tender documents are going ahead at the same time,” says one source close to the project. “It is a bit messy.”

Phase 9 involves constructing 54 substations (MEED 28:10:08).