The Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP) has prequalified five groups to participate in the tender for the Umm al-Hayman wastewater treatment plant project.

The wastewater plant is being developed as a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme. KAPP, formerly the Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB), reopened the prequalification process in May this year, having originally prequalified six groups in 2012 for the tender.

The five groups which have been prequalified to participate in the tender process are:

• Wassertechnik (Germany)/International Financial Advisors (local)
• Kharafi National (local)/Alfanar (Saudi Arabia)
• Marubeni Corporation (Japan)/ Ali Alghanim Sons & Trading (Kuwait)
• Beijing Enterprises Water Group (China)/Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (South Korea)/ KCC Engineering & Contracting (local)
• Degremont (France)/Itochu Corporation (Japan)/Abdullah Hamad al-Sagar and Brothers (local)

The prequalification process was restarted following slow progress and a number of changes to Kuwait’s PPP law and the restructuring of Kuwait’s PPP body in 2014. KAPP is developing the project in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Works (MPW).

The work involves design, financing, building, operation and maintenance of a new Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) with an initial treatment capacity of 500,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d), which can be expanded to 700,000cm/d. It also includes upgrading and extension of the Egaila pumping station, refurbishment of Umm al-Hayman City pumping station, construction of Sabah al-Ahmed pumping station, sewer transmission lines and treated sewage effluent (TSE) transfer and distribution systems.

MPW will enter into a PPP agreement with the selected consortium, which will form a project company, for a 27.5 year period. The agreement will include a build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement, under which the project company will design, finance, construct and commission the wastewater plant within a period of 2.5 years, followed by a 25-year period of operation and maintenance (O&M).

At the end of the PPP agreement, ownership of the wastewater facility will be transferred to the MPW. The PPP agreement will also include a 5.5 year design-build-operate (DBO) deal for the associated wastewater transmission and sewage effluent networks. Under this agreement, the Kuwaiti government will finance the capital costs of the assets and the investor will be required to build the networks and operate and maintain the networks for a 3-year period before transferring them back to MPW.

The Umm al-Hayman project, which will reduce raw sewage discharge in Southern Kuwait, was originally announced in 2009 and was initially planned to be completed in 2015. Following numerous delays, those bidding on the project are hopeful that the scheme will progress swiftly following the 2014 reforms of the country’s PPP law and body.