Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity & Water has extended the deadline for bids to build the desalination component of the Al-Zour South power and water project.

Bidders have until 19 October to respond to the tender instead of the original 19 September deadline. The chosen contractor will provide, install, operate and maintain a reverse osmosis desalination plant with a capacity of 30 million gallons per day.

The facility will sit next to an existing power plant. The ministry is currently looking for a contractor to convert this simple cycle gas-fired project into a combined cycle plant on a design, build and operate basis.

The winning bidder will also build a 400MW steam turbine to the existing 800MW plant at the site. The ministry unveiled plans to convert the existing project earlier this year. The ministry has extended the deadline for bids to build the power facilities from 14 September to 3 October.

The Al-Zour South project has become a priority for the Ministry of Electricity & Water since its larger engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) project at Al-Zour North was taken over by the Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB) and converted into an independent water and power project (IWPP).