'A committee reviewed the prequalification documents submitted by the consultants and shortlisted 16, four in each category, to receive the RFP,' SWCC governor Fehied Alshareef told MEED in early July. The four advisory posts cover financial, technical, legal and strategic work (see table). Companies have been given until 30 July to submit their responses to the RFP.

The advisers will map out a privatisation strategy for SWCC, recommending what should be privatised and when. The studies are expected to take 12 months to complete and will be followed by a two-year implementation period.

SWCC accounts for 25 per cent of global desalination capacity, producing 3.4 million cubic metres a day of water through its 30 plants, equivalent to 60 per cent of the kingdom's requirements.

On the Shouaiba IWPP, which is being handled by WEC, negotiations are under way with the preferred bidder, a local/Malaysian venture of Acwapower Projectsand Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Mada Company for Industrial & Commercial Investmentand Malakoff Berhad. The signing of the key project agreements is set for October. The developer group will take a 60 per cent stake in a new project company, which will develop the oil-fired 900-MW, 176 million-gallon-a-day (g/d) scheme on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis, under a 20-year power and water purchase agreement (PWPA) with WEC.

Developers have been given until 17 September to respond to the RFQ on WEC's second IWPP, the oil-fired Shuqaiq plant. Some 44 local and international companies have expressed interest in the project, which has recently been increased in size to 850 MW and 47 million g/d (MEED 24:6:05).

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