Kuwait’s Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB) has issued a request for qualification (RFQ) to consultants to act as a transaction adviser for the construction of a wastewater treatment plant at Umm al-Hayman.

The project, located on the coast some 50 kilometres south of Kuwait City, was originally to be developed as a design and construct project by the Public Works Ministry, who had appointed Lebanon-based Dar al-Handasah (Shair and Partners) in January 2009 as the consultant for the design, construction supervision and environmental study.

The Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB) has recently joined the project and may develop the project as a public-private partnership (PPP). It will appoint an adviser for the PPP transaction.

Firms with technical, financial, environmental, and legal experience and previous participation in wastewater treatment projects have been invited to respond to the RFQ.

Interested parties have until 16 September to submit RFQ documentation. PTB will launch a feasibility study for the extension facility in May or June 2011.

 The Umm al-Hayman plant will be expanded from its current wastewater treatment capacity of 27,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) to at least 650,000 cm/d.

The extension of the Umm al-Hayman facility will also treat raw sewage that will be diverted from the Riqqa plant (180,000 cm/d) which will be decommissioned.