Saudi Arabia’s Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) is considering using the independent water project (IWP) procurement model for the delivery of the Jeddah 4 desalination plant instead of the currently planned EPC model.

SWCC recently extended the bid submission date until 15 March for the EPC contract, however according to sources close to the scheme the state utility is considering switching the procurement model to an IWP.

The plant will be the first water plant that has been procured using a public-private partnership (PPP) developer model for a number of years, with SWCC having tendered its last independent water and power project (IWPP) in 2007.

At the recent World Future Energy Summit (WFES) in Abu Dhabi, SWCC’s governor, Abdulrahman al-Ibrahim, said that the water company was considering bringing back the PPP model for major water projects as a result of the changing economic climate in the new lower-oil priced era.

“The government is committed to [Project] development, but there needs to be a change in approach,” Al-Ibrahim told the conference.

The fourth phase of the Jeddah scheme will expand the site’s capacity by 400,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d). SWCC has set a target of commissioning the desalination project by 2019.

MEED reported in November that more contractors were attempting to prequalify to participate in the EPC bidding process for the Jeddah 4 plant, with only two groups having being initially prequalified for the scheme.

According to a source within the kingdom’s water sector, the prequalification requirements set by the kingdom’s Ministry of Municipal & Rural Affairs (Momra) were more stringent and difficult to meet than normal for similar schemes in the region. The threshold of previous capacity projects is expected to be reduced to allow more firms to participate in the tender.

In December 2014, MEED reported that the US’ Black & Veatch was awarded the deal to provide engineering and design consultancy services on the desalination project.

The scheme is one of nine new desalination plants that SWCC, with a total capacity of more than 3 million cm/d, is planning to commission by the end of 2020.

The largest project planned by 2020 is the 1.5 million-cm/d Jubail 3 desalination plant, which will have a combined-cycle power plant with a capacity of 3,000MW. The facility is scheduled to be commissioned in 2020 and will utilise a combination of thermal desalination and RO technology.