The Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) has revealed that 26 foreign utility project developers have shown interest in developing the Dammam West ISTP Outfall Pipeline project, which has a capacity of 200,000 cubic meters per day.
The project is part of the Dammam West Independent Sewage Treatment Plant (ISTP), which has a 25-year expansion capacity of 350,000 cu m/day. According to a statement from SWPC, the ISTP is being developed on a Build, Own, Operate, and Transfer (BOOT) model.
The development of the associated outfall pipeline, with a total length of about 29 km for the land and marine sections and a capacity of up to 350,000 m3/day, is required to transport unused Treated Sewage Effluent from the ISTP to the disposal site inside the Arabian Gulf.
According to SWPC, the top utility project developers vying for the project include European majors Vinci Construction Grands Projects (France), Spain’s SA de Obras y Servicios Copasa and energy group Elecnor, Belgium’s Besix-Six Construct and Holland’s Arkoil Technologies Nederland, as well as US infrastructure group Infralinx Capital Partners and China Railway Construction company.
Of these Expressions of Interest, 16 are from Saudi companies including Ajlan and Bros Energy Company, Al Bawani Water and Power, Al Jazea Contracting and Trading, Alkhorayef Water and Power Technologies Company, Batco Saudi Construction, Mowah, Saudi Arabian Amiantit, Thabat Construction and Al-Sharif Group Holding in consortium with Sicim SPA.
In addition to these, three GCC players are also in the race like Passawant Energy and Power, a German-based subsidiary of Dubai-based Drake & Scull International and Metito Utilities, both from UAE, and Bahrain’s energy investment company Lamar Holding.
The winning developer or developer partnership will be in charge of the pipeline’s financing, engineering, procurement, construction, and implementation, according to SWPC.
Once the pipeline project is completed, it will be handed over to the National Water Company (NWC), which will be in charge of its management and maintenance. SWPC is then likely to sign an outfall pipeline development agreement with the chosen developer or developer consortium, with payments to be made over a period of time to be agreed, starting from the date of transfer to NWC.
For the Dammam West ISTP Outfall Pipeline Project, SWPC has hired Deloitte Financial Advisory Services as the lead and financial adviser, Atkins Global as the technical advisor, and Pinsent Masons as the legal advisor.
