Kuwait’s Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB) has prequalified transaction advisers for the development of a wastewater treatment plant at Umm al-Hayman.

The following advisory groups have been prequalified:

• Bank Muscat (Oman)/Chadbourne & Parke (US)
• Booz & Co (US)/Mott MacDonald (UK)/Dewey & LeBoeuf (US)
• IPA Energy & Water Economics (UK)/Blakes (Canada)/Dar Al-Handasah (Egypt)
• Ernst & Young (UK)/Trowers & Hamlins (UK)
• Deutsche Bank (Germany)/Simmons & Simmons (UK)
• PricewaterhouseCoopers (UK)/Pinsent Masons (UK)
• HSBC (UK)/Norton Rose (UK)
• KPMG (UK)/Allen & Overy (UK)
• Gulf Investment Corporation (Kuwait)/DLA Piper (UK)
• Citigroup (US)/Clifford Chance (UK)

The PTB has issued a request for proposals (RFP) to which prequalified companies are to respond to by mid-December.

The winning group will provide technical, financial, environmental, and legal experience. A selection is to be made by the end of 2010 or in early 2011.

The chosen consultant will advise on the expansion of the Umm al-Hayman plant from its current wastewater treatment capacity of 27,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) to around 600,000 cm/d.

The expansion project will be carried out in two phases. The first phase will see around 400-450,000 cm/d capacity brought online by 2015. The enlarged Umm al-Hayman wastewater treatment project will serve a new city at the site.

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

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 (MEED 19:1:10).

A publicly traded project company will be established with 50 per cent of the ownership held in shares. The developer will take a 40 per cent stake, while the government is to retain a 10 per cent stake.

The chosen consultant will be tasked with completing a study, establishing a project company and closing financing within 18 months of appointment. The company will be floated before or around the start of construction of the project.