Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) said a total of 43 leading utility developers or developer consortiums from across the globe have submitted bids for the development of an independent water and power project (IWPP) coming up at an area 18 km south of the Jubail Industrial City on the Arabian Gulf Coast.

Of these, 11 are locals with the list being spearheaded by Saudi heavyweight Acwa Power, revealed senior officials of SWPC {formerly Saudi Arabia's Water & Electricity (WEC)}.

The others include Nesma Holding; Power and Water Utility Company for Jubail and Yanbu (Marafiq); Saudi Technologists Consulting Engineers And Partners Company (Satech); Bahr Rawafid Company (Rawafid); Shibh Al Jazira General Contracting; Amwal Al Khaleej; Saudi Services for Electro Mechanic Works (SSEM); Arabian Bemco Contracting Company (Bemco); Jawza Infrastructure Development & Partner Holding Company and Delta Notional Energy Company.

The new Jubail Phase 3 plant will be located adjacent to the existing plant units (Jubail Phase 1, Jubail Phase 2 and Jubail RO plants), in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

On completion, it will have a capacity of 1.17 million cu m/day of potable water through 60 per cent reverse osmosis and 40 per cent thermal desalination technology, respectively.

The global industry giants eyeing the mega project include General Electric Company (US); Engie, Veolia and EDF (France); Acciona Agua, Cobra and Abengoa (Spain); Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Mitsui and Marubeni (Japan) besides Chinese consortiums led by Harbour Engineering Arabia Company and JSG, Korea's Kepco and Indian utility group Nutek, said senior SWPC officials.

Major regional groups such as Kuwait-based Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) and the UAE's MDC Power Holding Company are also in the fray besides Elsewedy Electric of Egypt, revealed the officials.

As per the contract, SWPC will conduct a competitive process to select a developer or developer consortium for the development, financing, engineering, procurement, construction, implementation, operation and maintenance of the plant.
 
The project will also include a 3,000 MW of power plant, together with associated infrastructure and facilities.

Banque Saudi Fransi has been roped in as the lead and financial advisor for the project, while Alderbrook Finance is the co-financial advisor; DLA Piper Middle East the legal advisor and
Fichtner GmbH & Co KG the technical advisor.

According to senior officials, the winning company to be incorporated to develop the project will sell its entire power and desalinated water capacity and output to SWPC under a power and water purchase agreement (PWPA). It will have the concession for 25 years, they stated.
 
WEC’s obligations under the PWPA will be supported by a credit support agreement from the Government of Saudi Arabia, they added.-TradeArabia News Service