Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP) has extended the bid submission date for the Al-Zour North 2 independent water and power project (IWPP) for the fifth time.

The new bid submission date is 21 June, extended from the previous 10 May deadline.

MEED reported in August 2015 that seven groups had been prequalified to participate in the tender for the IWPP, which will have a power generation capacity of 1,500MW and a desalination component of at least 102 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD) of water.

With Japan’s Mitsui joining up with Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power, it means four of the seven prequalified firms will bid in three consortiums.

MEED reported that the head of KAPP, Kuwait’s public-private partnership (PPP) body, was replaced on 1 April.

The former general manager of KAPP, Adel al-Roumi, the founder and head of KAPP since its fomation in 2008, was replaced by Mutlaq Mubarak al-Sanei. Al-Sanei was previously director of follow-up at sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA).

KAPP, formerly called the Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB), was established to oversee a programme of $28bn-worth of schemes in partnership with the private sector. However, the PPP body has suffered from several delays with its programme, with the Al-Zour North IWPP the only scheme to reach execution. Deals for the Al-Zour North 1 IWPP were awarded in late 2013, after a protracted tendering process.