Siemens' bid was 10 per cent lower than the second best offer of KD 22.9 million ($78.9 million) submitted by Saudi Arabia's National Contracting Company (NCC). South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company ranked third on price, at KD 23 million ($79.3 million).

The contract covers substations, Hawally F and G, Khiran D and Ras al-Siddiq A, B, C, E and F. The client, the Ministry of Energy (Electricity & Water), is expected to take up to six months evaluating the offers before making an award. Construction will take 24 months.

Bid evaluation is ongoing at a number of other Energy Ministry substation projects including the Qurain W and Siddiq W 300/132/11-kV substations, for which Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation and Europe's ABB are the respective low bidders (MEED 16:12:05).

Hyundai was recently awarded the KD 12.8 million ($44 million) contract to build four 132/11-kV substations at Fintas and Salmiya, while Mitsubishi won in January the KD 9.9 million ($34.3 million) contract to build four 132/11-kV substations at Saad al-Abdullah township (MEED 30:9:05).