Dubai Municipality has set a new deadline for firms to submit their statements of qualifications (SoQs) for the contracts to develop and operate various packages of the $22bn Dubai Strategic Sewerage Tunnels (DSST) project.

According to a source close to the project, interested companies have until 21 October to submit their SOQs, which is six weeks later than the initial submission date of 5 September.

The investor prequalification process for the scheme, which is being procured on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis, comes after the client prequalified engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors that can partner with the developers or investors to bid for the contracts.

DSST packages

Under the current plan, the $22bn DSST project is broken down into six packages, which will be tendered as PPP packages with concession periods lasting between 25 and 35 years.

The first package, J1, comprises Jebel Ali tunnels (North) and terminal pump stations (TPS). The tunnels will extend approximately 42 kilometres, and the links will extend 10km. 

The second package, J2, covers the southern section of the Jebel Ali tunnels, which will extend 16km and have a link stretching 46km.

W for Warsan, the third package, comprises 16km of tunnels, TPS and 46km of links.

J3, the fourth package, comprises 129km of links.

J1, J2, W and J3 will comprise the deep sewerage tunnels, links and TPS (TLT) components of the overall project.

J1, J2 and W will be procured under a design-build-finance-operate-maintain model with a concession period of 25-35 years.

J3 will be procured under a design-build-finance model with a concession period of 25-35 years. Once completed, Dubai Municipality will operate J3, unlike the first three packages, which are planned to be operated and maintained by the winning PPP contractors.  

The project’s remaining two packages entail the expansion and upgrade of the Jebel Ali and Warsan sewage treatment plants (STPs).

The prequalified EPC companies for packages J1, J2 and W are:

• Acciona Construccion (Spain) – Dubai branch
• Besix Construct (Belgium)
• China Harbour Engineering (China)
• China Railway Group (China)
• China State Construction Engineering Corporation (China)
• Daewoo Engineering & Construction (South Korea) 
• Dogus Insaat VE Ticaret Anonim Sirketi (Turkiye) – Abu Dhabi
• FCC Construcccion (Spain)
• Archirodon Construction (Overseas) Company (Greece) / BESSAC (France)
• China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation – Dubai Branch / Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Company (STEC) / China Railway 14th Bureau Group Corporation 
• Gulermak Agir Sanayi Insaat (Turkiye) / DETech Contracting (local)
• National Marine Dredging Company (local) / Afcons Infrastructure (India) / ITD Cementation India 
• The Arab Contractors (Osman Ahmed Osman & Company, Egypt) / Darwish Engineering Emirates (local) / AqualiaMACE Contracting Operation & General Maintenance (local)
• Larsen & Toubro (India)
• Porr (Austria)
• Power Construction Corporation of China (China) – Dubai branch
• Samsung C&T Corporation (South Korea) – Dubai Branch
• SK Ecoplant (South Korea) 
• Strabag Dubai (Austria)
• The Petroleum Projects & Technical Consultation Company (Petrojet) – Egypt
• Webuild  (Italy)

EPC companies that have been prequalified to bid for package J3 are:

• Acciona Construccion (Spain) – Dubai branch
• Alghanim International General Trading & Contracting (Kuwait) 
• China Railway Group (China)
• China State Construction Engineering Corporation (China)
• Daewoo Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• DETech Contracting
• Archirodon Construction (Overseas) Company (Greece) / BESSAC (France)
• China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (China) – Dubai branch / Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Company (STEC) / China Railway 14th Bureau Group Corporation 
• Gulermak Agir Sanayi Insaat (Turkiye) / DETech Contracting (local) 
• International Foundation Group (IFG, local) / General Construction Company (local)
• Nael Construction & Contracting (UAE) / Concord for Engineering & Contracting (Egypt) – Dubai branch
• National Marine Dredging Company (local) / Afcons Infrastructure (India) / ITD Cementation India 
• Mapa Insaat Ve Ticaret (Turkiye)
• Mohammed Abdulmohsin Al-Kharafi & Sons (Kuwait)
• Porr (Austria)
• Power Construction Corporation of China – Dubai branch
• Strabag (Austria)
• Tecton Engineering & Construction (local)
• The Petroleum Projects & Technical Consultation Company – Petrojet (Egypt)

According to a source close to the project, packages J1 and W will be tendered together as separate contracts first, followed by J2 and J3, with the requests for proposals (RFPs) to be issued sequentially, staggered around six to 12 months apart.

The packages for the expansion and upgrade of the Jebel Ali and Warsan STPs will be procured in a process separate from the four DSST-DLT components.

The overall project will require a capital expenditure of roughly AED30bn ($8bn), while the whole life cost over the full concession terms of the entire project is estimated to reach AED80bn.

Sustainable project

The project aims to convert Dubai’s existing sewerage system from a pumped system to a gravity system by decommissioning the existing pump stations and providing “a sustainable, innovative, reliable service for future generations”.

Dubai currently has two major sewerage catchments. The first in Deira is Warsan, where the Warsan STP treats the flow.

The second catchment is in Bur Dubai, where the wastewater is treated at the Jebel Ali STP.

According to a source close to the project, the DSST will replace 120 pump stations, saving approximately 100 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually.