Invited companies have until 8 July to bid for each of the estimated $100m engineering, procurement and construction contracts, which cover the construction of the Fintas Z, Sulaibiya Z and Jabriya Z substations.

Seven international contracts are prequalified for each contract. They are Europe’s ABB, AE Power Systems with Hitachi Technologies Corporation, both of Japan, France’s Areva T&D, South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Toshiba Corporation, both of Japan, and Germany’s Siemens.

Pre-tender meetings will be held on 29 June. Evaluation of bids is expected to take about three months, with awards made in the autumn.