Kuwait’s Partnerships Technical Bureau has shortlisted four groups for the consultancy work on the country’s first independent water and power project (IWPP) planned at Al-Zour.

The shortlisted groups are made up of technical, financial and legal advisers.

They include the UK’s Mott MacDonald with Ernst & Young, also of the UK, and the US’ DLA Piper; the US’ Shaw Group and Citigroup with the UK’s Clifford Chance; and Germany’s Lahmeyer International with France’s BNP Paribas and the US’ Chadbourne & Parke. The final group is Germany’s Fichtner with the UK’s HSBC and Norton Rose.

At least 10 consortiums had expressed interest in the advisory contract on 20 August. Those that had not been shortlisted were informed in the first week of 2010.

The team of consultants will also oversee the tendering process to appoint the IWPP developer. The developer will then design, build, finance, operate and maintain the IWPP through a special-purpose vehicle. The winning developer will own 40 per cent of the project company.

The planned IWPP will consist of a power plant with capacity of 1,500MW and a desalination plant capable of producing 100 million gallons a day of desalinated water.