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Qatar’s Public Works Authority (Ashghal) is expected to issue the request for proposals for four construction contracts that make up the South of Wakrah and New District of Doha (NDOD) pumping station and outfall scheme in the first quarter of 2024.

Asghal received prequalification documents from construction companies interested in bidding for the four packages in October last year.

A source close to the project tells MEED the four packages have an estimated value of between $1bn and $2bn.

The first contract involves the design and build of a deep pumping station with a capacity of about 35 cubic metres a second (cm/s), as well as associated operational and control buildings and a large-diameter tunnelled sea outfall, including marine diffuser head/array dispersion assembly.

The second contract covers the design and construction of the 27-kilometre eastern tunnel. The 3-5-metre internal diameter tunnel has 23 shafts. Its depth varies from 18 to 55 metres.

The third contract is for the design and build of the western tunnel, which comprises 17km of tunnel with a 4.5-5-metre internal diameter and 11 shafts. The depth ranges from 18 to 45 metres.

The fourth contract entails designing and constructing a deep pumping station with a capacity of about 25 cm/s, as well as associated operations and control buildings and wetland balancing lagoons with a total volume of 270,000 cubic metres.

The consultants working on the project are Halcrow, part of US-based Jacobs, and MWH, now part of Canada’s Stantec.

In 2013, Ashghal developed the Qatar Integrated Drainage Master Plan (QIDMP) that addressed the 50-year plan for the foul water, groundwater, stormwater and treated sewage effluent systems in Qatar.

The outcomes of this QIDMP study proposed several groundwater and stormwater schemes, including the South of Wakrah and New District of Doha pumping station and outfall scheme.

Qatar’s first independent sewage treatment plant (ISTP) project will cater to the Wakrah and Wukair areas.

Ashghal officially awarded a Metito-led consortium the contract to develop the project in September last year. Other members of the winning consortium are local firm Al-Attiya Motors & Trading Company and Kuwait’s Gulf Investment Corporation.

The planned facility will have a treatment capacity of 150,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d), extendable to 600,000 cm/d in a later phase.

The project also involves the construction of a pumping station, two deep-shaft structures, and a tunnel ventilation and odour-control facility.