The Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Establishment (BMLWE) has invited contractors to prequalify for the deal to build the Wardanieh water treatment plant.

Firms have until 19 February to submit prequalification entries for the design, build and operate (DBO) contract for the plant, which will have a capacity of 250,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d). The plant will be located at Wardanieh, about 35 kilometres south of the capital, Beirut. The contract duration period is 36 months.

The client expects to issue tender documents in April this year.

The project is part of the Greater Beirut water supply project, for which the Lebanese government has received a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction & Development (IBRD) to go towards the cost of the scheme.

The estimated $200m Greater Beirut water supply project is designed to strengthen the capacity of the BMLWE, the utility provider responsible for the operation and efficiency of urban water supply in the area. The scheme is planned to improve water supply for more than 2 million people in Southern Beirut.

Lebanon’s government has been planning ways to improve water supply in Greater Beirut since the early 1960s. The project will involve increasing the supply of drinkable water and improving the pipes running into buildings in Beirut. The proposed water supply scheme will involve constructing two water tunnels, three big storage reservoirs, 16 supply reservoirs, a water treatment plant and new smaller pipelines, pumping stations, and household meters.