Qatar’s General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) has reduced the capacity for its planned independent water project (IWP) at Ras Laffan Industrial City as a result of Doha scaling back its planned industrial projects pipeline.

Kahramaa had invited bidders to submit prices for an initial 65 million gallon-a-day (MIGD) capacity and also for an expanded capacity of 95 MIGD. However, the project has now been downsized to include only a 35 MIGD for potable water capacity, with the industrial capacity having been removed from the scope.

Due to the change in specification, the bid deadline has been extended from 23 February to 10 May. Bids, for the previous specification, had originally been due on 6 November, but the deadline had been extended until 23 February. The initial delay was due to the client wishing to firstly sign the agreements for the planned Facility D independent water and power project (IWPP), which is expected to be awarded in the coming weeks.

The removal of the industrial water capacity should not come as a major surprise to the bidders, with Qatar having shelved plans for the estimated for the $7.4bn Sejeel petrochemicals complex, in September, and the $6.4 Karanaa petrochemicals scheme, in January.

With each complex planning to produce 3 million tonnes a year of petrochemical products by 2020, the demand for additional industrial water in the Ras Laffan development was clear. Now these schemes have been cancelled, Kahramaa is not required to provide such vast quantities of industrial water from Ras Laffan.

And with the planned Facility D IWPP set to produce between 123.5 MIGD and 136.5MIGD, Qatar does not have the requirement for more than 35MIGD of potable water in the coming years.

The Ras Laffan IWP is planned to be developed under a 25-year build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) arrangement, under which the successful bidder will take a 30 per cent stake in the project company that will deliver the facility. The remaining shares will be held by Qatar Electricity and Water Company, 60 per cent, Qatar Petroleum, 5 per cent, and Qatar Foundation 5 per cent.