Kuwait’s Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB) has prequalified companies to bid to build an independent water and power project (IWPP) at Al-Zour North.

According to a source close to the deal, the following groups have been prequalified:

• Acwa Power (Saudi Arabia) with GIC (local) and Samsung (South Korea)
• AES (US)
• GDF Suez (France) with Kepco (South Korea)
• GE (US)
• International Power (UK)
• Malakoff International (Malaysia)
• Marubeni (Japan)
• Mitsui (Japan) with Kharafi Group (Kuwait)
• Sumitomo (Japan)
• Taqa (UAE)
• Tenaga Nasional Berhad (Malaysia)

A total of 20 companies responded to the request for qualification (RFQ). Submissions were assessed against the following criteria:

• Minimum tangible network of at least $250m
• Successful development of at least two major independent power projects (IPPs) or IWPPs using own resources
• Generation capacity of at least 500MW
• Track record of raising limited resources financing for at least two major power projects

A request for proposals (RFP) will be issued to qualified bidders soon. The winning bidder will construct the gas-fired project on a design, finance, build, operate and maintain basis. It will have a capacity of 1,500MW of power and 100 million gallons a day (g/d) of desalinated water.

A team of France’s BNP Paribas, US law firm Chadbourne & Parke and Germany’s Lahmeyer International won the mandate to advise PTB on the project in March (MEED 23:3:10).

The Al-Zour North site was selected following an analysis of three sites at Al-Zour, on the east coast of Kuwait. The site was selected as permission has already been granted for another power and water project at Al-Zour North planned by the Electricity & Water Ministry using an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. The PTB’s IWPP replaced the EPC project.

The government of Kuwait has indicated its preference for building out the country’s upcoming power and water plant pipeline on an IWPP basis, as opposed to using a traditional EPC contract.