Kuwait’s public-private partnership (PPP) body, Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP), has set a new submission date of 6 April for the Al-Zour North 2 independent water and power project (IWPP).

The deadline has now been extended a couple of times, with the original deadline having been set in mid-January. The extension has been granted to allow bidders more time to work on submissions.

MEED reported in January that three prequalified groups are preparing to bid on the Al-Zour North 2 independent water and power project (IWPP) in Kuwait.

Seven groups were prequalified in August to participate the tender for the IWPP, which will have a power generation capacity of 1,500MW and a desalination component of at least 102 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD).

With Japan’s Mitsui joining up with Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power, it means four of the seven prequalified companies will bid in three consortiums.

The groups expected to submit bids for the Al-Zour North 2 IWPP are led by the following companies:

•  Acwa Power (Saudi Arabia) / Mitsui (Japan)
•  Marubeni (Japan) / Fouad Al Ghanim (Kuwait)
•  Sumitomo (Japan)

As with the first Al-Zour North IWPP, the phase 2 project will use natural gas as the main feedstock and gas oil, which will be provided by the Ministry of Electricity & Water (MEW).

The scheme has fallen behind schedule, with developers invited to submit expressions of interest (EOIs) in June 2013.

Progress with the project stalled as a result of the restructuring of KAPP’s predecessor, the Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB). The restructuring, which happened in parallel with the amendments of the country’s PPP and IWPP laws, was implemented in response to the slow procurement process for the country’s first PPP project, the Al-Zour North 1 IWPP.

KAPP is also preparing to tender the Al-Khiran 1 IWPP in the first quarter of 2016. The cogeneration plant will have the same generation capacity as the Al-Zour North 2 IWPP, but a larger desalination capacity of 125 MIGD. KAPP has prequalified the same seven lead developers for the Al-Khiran facility.

Al-Khiran 1 will run on low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO), unlike the Al-Zour North 1 and 2 projects, which will run on gas.

It will have the capability to run on the back-up fuels of natural gas, crude oil and gas oil.