Valued at $781 million, the award covers packages A, B, C and D. Packages A and B call for the supply and installation of 250 kilometres of ductile iron pipeline with capacity of 100 million gallons a day (g/d). Packages C and D are for the construction of pumping stations and water storage tanks at Mirfa and Mussafah (MEED 21:6:02; 14:6:02).

The award ends a protracted bidding process, which has spanned almost a year and taken in four rounds. The delay in awarding the packages was initially attributed to prices coming in over budget. The client, Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (ADWEA), then examined the option of installing carbon steel, as opposed to ductile iron, pipes.

In the last round of bidding, which closed on 12 June, Marubeni was low bidder at AED 2,237 million ($609 million) for the ductile iron pipeline option and for the pumping station and storage tank packages, at AED 640 million ($174 million). The other bidders were South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Company, Paris-based Technip-Coflexipwith the local Al-Jaber Energy Services, the US' Earthtech, and France's Entreposewith Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC).

One package remains to be awarded on the water transmission system. For package E, the supply and installation of 110 kilometres of pipeline from Shuweihat to Sila, bids were submitted by local contractors in late June.

The pipeline network will serve the Shuweihat independent water and power project (IWPP), which involves the construction of a 1,500-MW, 100 million-g/d grassroots plant on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis (MEED 17:5:02).