Utico invites bids for independent water project

26 May 2014

Five consortiums have been prequalified for tender

Local utility company Utico has invited groups to submit bids to develop a 22 million-gallon-a-day (g/d) independent water project (IWP) in the UAE emirate of Ras al-Khaimah.

Utico has prequalified five consortiums for the scheme and has set a submission date in July. The desalination plant is planned to be powered by a solar project, which Utico is preparing to tender imminently.

The utility provider invited companies to submit prequalification documents for the 40MW independent power project (IPP) solar plant in March, and is currently finalising the prequalification list before it issues the request for proposals (RFP). Several groups, consisting of more than 20 companies, submitted prequalification entries for the renewable energy scheme.

Dutch firm KPMG is the financial adviser for both projects.

Utico is also pushing ahead with plans to build a clean coal-fired power plant in partnership with China’s Shanghai Electric. The AED1.5bn ($408m) facility will have a generation capacity of 270MW.

Ras al-Khaimah is not the only emirate in the UAE to consider using coal to produce power. Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) is also planning a large-scale clean-coal plant. Dewa received bids for the advisory services deal on the planned 1,200MW coal-fired IPP in late October.

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