Riyadh to award water contracts

31 October 2008
Saudi Arabia’s National Water Company (NWC) says it will award the contracts for technical, legal and financial consultants on the Greater Dammam, Medina and Mecca public-private-partnership scheme by mid-November.

NWC says it has selected the preferred bidders for the consultancy contracts to manage the water and wastewater networks in the three areas. The successful technical adviser will act as the lead consultant. Some 12 bids were submitted for the contracts on 30 June.

Two water management contracts have already been awarded to private companies this year. In April, France’s Veolia won a $60m contract for the management of Riyadh’s water and wastewater networks. The duration of the contract is six years (MEED 29:4:08).

In May, another French company, GdF Suez, was awarded a $61m, seven-year contract to upgrade and modernise Jeddah’s water and wastewater infrastructure (MEED 21:5:08).

NWC is also evaluating bids for the advisory contracts for the sale and reuse of treated sewage effluent and sludge at Riyadh, Jeddah, Medina and Mecca, but no timeframe has been set for an award.

Bids have been submitted by two technical consultants and one legal consultant. The successful technical adviser will act as the lead adviser and will assign a financial adviser to join the team.

Together, the three consultants will assess the potential market for the reuse of treated water and sludge and be responsible for overall project management.

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