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Prequalified bidders have been given two more weeks to prepare and submit their proposals for a contract to develop and operate Saudi Arabia’s second independent water transmission pipeline (IWTP) project, which links Jubail and Buraydah.

According to a source close to the project, Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) has extended the tender closing date from the end of June to mid-July.

The planned Jubail-Buraydah IWTP is a 603-kilometre (km) pipeline that can transmit 650,000 cubic metres of water a day.

It is larger than the Rayis-Rabigh IWTP project, which a consortium including the local Alkhorayef Water & Power Technologies Company will develop and operate at a cost of SR7.78bn ($2bn).

SWPC issued the request for proposals for the Jubail-Buraydah IWTP scheme to the prequalified bidders in October last year.

MEED reported in February that at least three consortiums were forming to bid for the contract.

According to industry sources, the consortiums that are being formed include:

• Ajlan & Bros / Alkhorayef Water & Power Technologies (local)
• Lamar Holding (local) / Sinohydro (China)
• Vision Invest (Local) / Taqa (UAE)

At the time, it was understood that discussions were still ongoing among other prequalified bidders about whether to either join the consortiums or form separate ones. 

The state water offtaker qualified 22 companies to bid for the contract in April 2022. They were:

• Abdulaziz Alajlan Sons Company for Commercial & Real Estate Investment (Ajlan & Bros)
• Abdullah Ibrahim Al-Sayegh & Sons
• Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa)
• AliShar Contracting Company
• Alkhorayef Water & Power Technologies
• Al-Sharif Group for Contracting
• Bin Omairah Contracting Company
• China Gezhouba Group Overseas Investment Company 
• China Harbour Engineering Company 
• China Railway Construction Corporation (International)
• China State Construction Engineering Corporation
• CNIC Corporation
• Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios
• Gulf Investment Corporation
• Lamar Holding
• Marubeni Corporation
• Mowah Company
• Mutlaq Al-Ghowairi Company for Contracting
• Nesma Company
• Norinco International Cooperation
• SICIM
• Vision International Investment Company

The transaction advisory team for the client comprises US/India’s Synergy Consulting as financial adviser and the local Amer Al-Amr and Germany’s Fichtner Consulting as legal and technical advisers, respectively.

SWPC’s obligations under the water transfer agreement will be guaranteed by a credit support agreement entered into by the Finance Ministry on behalf of the Saudi government.

The project is part of the kingdom’s National Water Strategy 2030, which aims to reduce the water demand-supply gap and ensure desalinated water accounts for 90% of national urban supply to reduce reliance on non-renewable ground sources.

SWPC’s Seven-Year Planning Statement calls for developing eight IWTP projects by 2028.