Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) is planning its next major desalination plant at Ras Abu Fontas in Qatar.

According to sources in Qatar’s water market, the client is considering overseeing the development of a 36 million-imperial-gallon-a-day (MIGD) A4 desalination plant at the Ras Abu Fontas site.

The A4 plant is likely to be developed under a similar model to the A3 plant, which is being developed as an independent water project (IWP) by the Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC). QEWC was to develop the project under a 25-year water purchase agreement (WPA) agreement with Kahramaa, and in March 2015 awarded Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation an estimated $500m contract to build the A3 plant.

QEWC had also been awarded the contract to develop the $500m Ras Abu Fontas A2 plant, to QEWC in 2012. QEWC completed financing for the multi-stage flash (MSF) desalination plant in January 2013. Mitsubishi and Japan’s Toyo Thai Engineering Company was selected to build the facility, which was completed in 2015.