A consortium of the UK/French GDF Suez Energy International, Japan’s Sumitomo and Kuwait’s AH Sagar & Brothers Group is targeting financial close on the Al-Zour North independent water and power project (IWPP) in May.

The deal would be the first time that private sector financing has been completed in Kuwait and is the first of a raft of planned public private partnerships (PPPs) in the country by the Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB).

Sources close to the deal the funding is set to be dominated by funding from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and local banks.

In early January the PTB named the GDF Suez consortium successful bidder on the project.