Meed | Firms seek to prequalify for 12 Saudi water projects

Firms seek to prequalify for 12 Saudi water projects

18 July 2024

Local and international utility developers have submitted their statements of qualifications (SOQs) for the contracts to develop and operate 12 water public-private partnership (PPP) projects in Saudi Arabia.

State-backed offtaker Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) received separate responses from companies for five independent water projects (IWPs) and seven independent sewage treatment plant (ISTP) projects by 4 July, industry sources tell MEED.

Local and regional companies, in addition to Japanese, Spanish, French and Chinese utility developers, are understood to have sought to prequalify to bid for the contracts, which are set to be tendered in 2024-26.

SWPC's shift from a single-project to a multiple-project prequalification process saves time and resources, according to one of the companies that submitted an SOQ.

"This is particularly true for international developers, which need to allocate resources across various geographies," the source said.

Another source said he believes SWPC will prequalify companies for lead and technical roles, among others, and then allow these companies to form teams at a later stage.

The client previously said that the programme "will provide the opportunity to local and international developers to obtain pre-qualification approval and receive the request for proposal documents for its future projects … without the need to submit a separate qualification application for each project".

The five IWP schemes have a total combined capacity of 1.7 million cubic metres a day (cm/d). The seven ISTP projects have a total combined capacity of 700,000 cm/d.

The kingdom's water sector has been undergoing a restructuring programme, with the capacity procurement process linked to the National Water Strategy being undertaken by three other clients: Saline Water Conversion Company, which has been renamed Saudi Water Authority; Water Transmission & Technologies Company; and the National Water Company.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo