The government’s recently reformed public-private partnership (PPP) body Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP) has prequalified five groups to participate in the tender for the Kabd Municipal Solid Waste Project, which is being developed under a PPP model.

KAPP, previously the PTB, invited companies to prequalify for the scheme in May this year. This was the second time the prequalification process was conducted for the project, with companies originally invited to prequalify for the scheme in March 2014. However, KAPP decided to reopen the prequalification process.

The five groups prequalified for the project are:

• Constructions Industrielles de La Mediterranee (CNIM), Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC), Al-Mulla Group (local)
• EVN Umweltholding and Betriebs (Austria), International Financial Advisors (IFA) (local) / KCC Engineering & Contracting (local) / Steinmuller Babcock Environment (Germany)
• Urbaser (Spain) / Babcock & Wilson (US) / Veolia Proprete (France) / National Cleaning Company (local)
• Suez Environnement (France) / Itochu Corporation, Kharafi National (local)
• FCC Medio Ambiente (Spain) / Acwa Power (Saudi Arabia) / Beatona (Saudi Arabia) / Fouad Alghanim & Sons General Trading & Contracting (local)

The waste-to-energy (WTE) scheme will be developed under a design, build, finance, operate and transfer model. The proposed facility will be located in the Kabd area, about 25 kilometres from Kuwait City, and will occupy an area of about 500,000 square metres. The project is planned to have an initial capacity of 3,275 tonnes a day (t/d) and will treat up to half of Kuwait’s municipal waste.

In the second quarter of 2013, the PTB awarded the transaction advisory services deal for the Kabd project to a consortium led by the UK’s PwC. The contract will involve reviewing, updating and finalising the feasibility study for the scheme and includes a waste composition characterisation study. The adviser will also be in charge of reviewing, updating and finalising tender documents and providing assistance in all procurement procedures until the financial close of the project.

The electricity generated by the plant will be purchased by the Ministry of Electricity & Water (MEW) through a power purchase agreement (PPA). The PPA is expected to last for 25 years, in addition to four years for design and construction of the scheme.

The Kabd Municipality Solid Waste project is part of the Kuwaiti government’s efforts to increase power generating capacity in the country, from the current 14,000MW to 31,000MW by 2023.