A full tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) package is expected by the fourth quarter. MEW will require the prequalified bidders to form consortia for the turnkey supply of the plant. The schedule envisages the first unit being commissioned in 42 months. Final commissioning of the plant is expected by 2009.

The prequalification document also stated that MEW will issue tenders for the project's desalination element based on its existing list of prequalified contractors. They include Italy's Fisia Italimpianti, South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, Weir Tecnaof the UK, France's Sidemand Japan's Hitachi Zosen Corporation.

The desalination element covers the installation of 100 million gallons a day (g/d) of multi-stage-flash (MSF) desalination capacity, comprising 10 units of 10 million g/d each. MEW plans to issue a second tender for a 25 million-g/d reverse osmosis plant, which will lift capacity at Al-Zour above 150 million g/d.

Plans to further expand the Subiya desalination facility have been deferred until after the summer. Doosan signed in May an estimated KD 109 million ($376 million) contract to install 50 million g/d of desalination capacity under the two-phase expansion programme. A tender is now expected in September for the next phase of expansion, which calls for the installation of four 12.5 million-g/d MSF units (MEED 14:5:04).