Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity & Water has selected a partnership of the local Alghanim International and France’s OTV to build a desalination plant in Al-Zour South.

Bids were submitted in December 2010 with the Kuwaiti/French partnership offering the lowest price at KD53.1m ($190m).

The following companies also submitted bids:

• Inima (Spain)/Al-Rashed (Kuwait) – KD61.7m
• Acciona (Spain)/CGC (Kuwait) – KD63.2m
• Hitachi (Japan)/Heisco (Kuwait) – KD65.8m
• Metito (UAE)/Rafif (Kuwait) – KD72.4m
• JGC Corporation (Japan)/Thuwainy (Kuwait) – KD83.1m
• Doosan (South Korea)/Al-Omar (Kuwait) – KD96.2m
• Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan)/Ahmadiah (Kuwait) – KD99.1m

The chosen contractor will provide, install, operate and maintain a reverse osmosis desalination plant with a capacity of 30 million gallons a day (g/d) of water.

A partnership of Alghanim and France’s Alstom won a contract to expand the existing Al-Zour South power plant in January. The new desalination facility will sit next to the enlarged power plant.

“We assigned a lot of importance to this project. We made sure that a lot of care was taken with the pricing and made sure there were not any unwanted mark ups anywhere. Having built the project itself helped, as we know the procedures and the ministry’s expectations,” says Samir Vora, proposals director at Alghanim, commenting on the company’s success in the Al-Zour tenders.

“Plus, we are a smaller company in terms of size and structure, and we are family-owned. Everything is transparent and decisions can be taken quickly. Of course, the Kuwaiti background – local resources, local manpower, local logistics – all help too. All in all, we know the project intimately and priced the bid accordingly,” he added.