Saudi Arabia opens bids for Jubail 3A independent water project

Consortium led by Acwa Power submits lowest levelised water tariff for 600,000 cubic metre a day desalination project

The Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) has received bids for the planned 600,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d)  Jubail 3A independent water project (IWP).

A consortium led by the local Acwa Power submitted the lowest levelised water tariff of SR1.54861 per cubic metre (SR/cm). A consortium of Japan’s Marubeni Corporation and the local Marafiq submitted the second lowest tariff of SR1.59961/cm.

The full list of bidders and prices is:

• Acwa Power (local)/ Gulf Investment Corporation (Kuwait)/ Al-Bawani (local), SR1.54861/cm
• Marubeni Corporation (Japan)/ Marafiq (local), SR1.59961/cm
• Aqualia (Spain)/ Haaco (local)/Alfanar (local), SR1.743542/cm
• Utico (UAE), SR1.76518

Energy & Utilities recently reported that the client was planning to open the commercial envelopes before the end of March.

SWPC had prequalified 10 groups to participate in the tender. The client previously set a target of shortlisting developers by 15 January 2020, and is targeting to sign project agreements by 1 March with financial close set for 1 June. However, the analysis of technical proposals was delayed and as a result the client is planning to open the commercial proposals within the next two weeks.

The project is due to be fully operational by 30 December 2022.

SWPC, which was formerly called Water Electricity Company (WEC), previously prequalified 10 developers to participate in the tender for the Jubail 3A and the Jubail 3B IWP projects.

The Jubail 3B IWP is planned to have a capacity of 570,000 cm/d, with bids due on 17 May. India’s Synergy Consulting has been appointed as lead and financial adviser for the Jubail 3 A and B projects. UK-based law firm DLA Piper has been appointed as legal adviser and UK-based Atkins is technical adviser for the planned projects.

Project	Capacity (cm/d)	Status
Rabigh 3 IWP	600,000	Execution
Shuqaiq 3 IWP	450,000	Execuction
Yanbu 4  IWP	450,000	Awarded
Jubail 3A IWP	600,000	Bid evaluation
Jubail 3B IWP	570,000	Bidding

The Jubail 3 scheme had originally been planned as an independent water and power project (IWPP) with a 1.17 million cm/d desalination capacity and a power component of 3,000MW. However, the client decided to drop the power generation component and proceed with the projects as two separate IWP projects.