Saudi Arabia has prequalified nine consortia for its mega desalination public-private partnership (PPP) project Rabigh 3, reports MEED.
The state owned utility Water and Electricity Company (WEC) requested expressions of interest for a 600,000 m3/d seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant in August 2017.
The nine consortia to have prequalified from a total of 55 submissions are: ACWA Power; Engie of France; Spain’s FCC Aqualia, and Cobra, with local firms Nesma, and Haji Abdullah Alireza & Company (HAACO); JGC of Japan; Malakoff of Malaysia; Japan’s Marubeni, with Acciona of Spain, and local firms Abdullatif Jameel, and Rawafid Holding; France’s Suez, with Saudi firm El-Seif Engineering, and Gulf Investment Corp., of Kuwait; Spain’s Valoriza; and Veolia of France, with local firms Marafiq, Amal al-Khaleej, and Advanced Water.
WEC, which is owned 50 per cent each by Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) and Saudi Electricity Company, aims to award the project, with a 25-year concession, by August 2018.