meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

Dubai receives $22bn tunnels investor prequalifications

30 October 2024

 

Register for MEED's 14-day trial access 

Potential investors have submitted their statements of qualifications (SoQs) for a contract to develop and operate various packages of the $22bn Dubai Strategic Sewerage Tunnels (DSST) project.

MEED understands that the project client, the Dubai Municipality, received SoQs from over a dozen companies, including several prequalified as engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors for the project’s first four packages.

According to industry sources, the companies that are keen to prequalify as investors or sponsors of the planned public-private partnership (PPP) project include:

  • Abrdn Investcorp Infrastructure Investments Manager (UK)
  • Besix (Belgium)
  • China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC)
  • China Railway Engineering Group (CREG)
  • China State Construction Engineering Corporation (China)
  • Itochu (Japan)
  • Plenary (Australia)
  • Samsung C&T (South Korea)
  • Vision Invest (Saudi Arabia)
  • WeBuild (Italy)

The project client and its consultants held a consortium match-making event for prospective contractors and sponsors or investors in Dubai on 7 October.

MEED previously reported that the bidders for the six PPP packages would be prequalified consortiums comprised of sponsors or investors; EPC contractors; and operations and maintenance contractors.

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

The investor prequalification process for the scheme comes after the client prequalified EPC contractors that can partner with the developers or investors to bid for the contracts.

MEED understands that packages J1 and W will be tendered together as separate contracts first, followed by J2 and J3, with the requests for proposals to be issued sequentially, staggered about six to 12 months apart.

Dubai Municipality is expected to invite prequalified companies to submit bids for the contracts to develop the first two packages of the DSST project in the fourth quarter of 2024.

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 (km), 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 expanding and upgrading the Jebel Ali and Warsan sewage treatment plants.

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/12804424/main.jpg
Jennifer Aguinaldo

Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • Gas demand reshapes priorities

    31 October 2025

    Commentary
    Colin Foreman
    Editor

    Read the November issue of MEED Business Review

    Gas has increasingly been regarded as a crucial transition fuel over the past decade as governments race to cut carbon emissions and meet climate pledges – including the Paris Agreement’s aim to keep warming well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.

    Those commitments have driven the demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) globally and this has reshaped investment priorities across the region, with Qatar, Oman and the UAE eyeing future export growth.

    QatarEnergy’s North Field expansion is the largest investment. The estimated $40bn programme will push Qatar’s LNG output towards 142 million tonnes a year by the end of this decade, almost doubling its present position and consolidating its role as a market anchor.

    Abu Dhabi is also committed to expanding its capacity. Its downstream strategies include a major greenfield LNG terminal at Ruwais, due to enter service in 2028 with two 4.8 million t/y trains adding 9.6 million t/y to the UAE’s export capability.

    These programmes are keeping contractors busy. Over the past five years, more than $44bn of LNG-related contracts have been awarded in the region – which is more than eight times the $5.3bn recorded in the previous five year period.

    At the same time, there are ample opportunities for contractors as other countries in the region build import infrastructure. Projects are already under way in Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco – and more are expected.

    With base load concerns remaining for many countries when it comes to completely switching to renewables, gas is expected to be a fuel of choice for the decades to come. The investments made in production capacity mean the region will play a pivotal role in delivering the world’s energy needs.

    READ THE NOVEMBER 2025 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Mena players up the ante in global LNG production race; Investment takes UAE non-oil economy from strength to strength; Project finance activity draws international lenders back to market

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the November 2025 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14992876/main.gif
    Colin Foreman
  • Dubai evaluates Al-Maktoum airport substructure bids

    31 October 2025

     

    Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP) is evaluating the bids it received from contractors on 15 September for substructure works for the first phase of the expansion of Al-Maktoum International airport.

    “The bid evaluation is ongoing and the project is expected to be awarded by the end of this year,” sources close to the project told MEED.

    MEED understands that the bidders include:

    • Alec (local)
    • China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (China)
    • China State Construction Engineering Corporation (China)
    • China Harbour Engineering Company (China)
    • Dutco Construction (local)
    • Innovo (local)
    • Limak / PowerChina (Turkiye/China)
    • Shapoorji Pallonji (India)
    • Webuild / Tristar (Italy/local)

    According to an official description on DAEP’s website, the expanded airport’s West Terminal will be a seven-level, 800,000-square-metre facility with an annual capacity of 45 million passengers.

    It will be the second of three terminals at Al-Maktoum International airport, linked to the airside by a 14-station automated people-mover (APM) system.

    In August, MEED exclusively reported that DAEP had received bids from firms to build the APM at Al-Maktoum airport. 

    The system will run under the apron of the entire airfield and the airport’s terminals. It will consist of several tracks, taking passengers from the terminals to the concourses.

    Four underground stations will be built as part of the first phase. The overall plan includes 14 stations across the airport.

    The airport’s construction is planned to be undertaken in three phases. The airport will cover an area of 70 square kilometres (sq km) south of Dubai and will have five parallel runways, five terminal buildings and 400 aircraft gates.

    It will be five times the size of the existing Dubai International airport and will have the world’s largest passenger-handling capacity of 260 million passengers a year. For cargo, it will have the capacity to handle 12 million tonnes a year.

    Construction progress

    Construction on the first phase has already begun. In May, MEED exclusively reported that DAEP had awarded a AED1bn ($272m) deal to UAE firm Binladin Contracting Group to construct the second runway at the airport.

    The enabling works on the terminal are also ongoing and are being undertaken by Abu Dhabi-based Tristar E&C.

    While speaking to the press on the sidelines of the Airport Show in Dubai in May, Khalifa Al-Zaffin, executive chairman of Dubai Aviation City Corporation, said the government of Dubai will award more packages this year, including for the APM and baggage handling systems.

    “Several other packages are expected to be tendered this year, including the terminal substructure, 132kV substations and district cooling plants,” Al-Zaffin said.

    Construction works on the project’s first phase are expected to be completed by 2032.

    The government approved the updated designs and timelines for its largest construction project in April 2024.

    In a statement, the authorities said the plan is for all operations from Dubai International airport to be transferred to Al-Maktoum International within 10 years.

    The statement added that the project will create housing demand for 1 million people around the airport.

    In September last year, MEED exclusively reported that a team comprising Austria’s Coop Himmelb(l)au and Lebanon’s Dar Al-Handasah had been confirmed as the lead masterplanning and design consultants on the expansion of Al-Maktoum airport.

    Project history

    The expansion of Al-Maktoum International, also known as Dubai World Central (DWC), is a long-standing project. It was officially launched in 2014, with a different design from the one approved in April 2024. At that time, it involved building the biggest airport in the world by 2050, with the capacity to handle 255 million passengers a year.

    An initial phase, due to be completed in 2030, involved increasing the airport’s capacity to 130 million passengers a year. The development was to cover an area of 56 sq km.

    Progress on the project slipped as the region grappled with the impact of lower oil prices and Dubai focused on developing the Expo 2020 site. Tendering for work on the project then stalled with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.

    READ THE NOVEMBER 2025 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Mena players up the ante in global LNG production race; Investment takes UAE non-oil economy from strength to strength; Project finance activity draws international lenders back to market

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the November 2025 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14991651/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal
  • Financial close reached for Jubail-Buraydah link

    31 October 2025

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) has announced financial close for the Jubail-Buraydah independent water transmission pipeline (IWTP) project.

    Saudi Arabia’s second IWTP project will link Jubail in the kingdom’s Eastern Province and Buraydah in the Qassim region via a 587-kilometre (km) pipeline that can transmit 650,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) of water.

    It will have a potable water storage capacity of 1.63 million cubic metres.

    The project will have a total cost of SR8.5bn ($2.2bn).

    A developer team comprising local companies Aljomaih Energy & Water, Nesma Company and Buhur for Investment Company was named as the preferred bidder for the contract last year.

    The Aljomaih, Nesma and Buhur team had proposed to develop the project for SR3.59468 a cubic metre.

    SWPC signed a contract agreement to develop and operate the Jubail-Buraydah IWTP project in May.

    The project is being developed under a build-own-operate-transfer model with a 35-year concession period from the project’s commercial operation date. 

    Local content is expected to reach 45% during the construction phase and 70% during operations.

    Commercial operation is scheduled for the first quarter of 2029.

    READ THE NOVEMBER 2025 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Mena players up the ante in global LNG production race; Investment takes UAE non-oil economy from strength to strength; Project finance activity draws international lenders back to market

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the November 2025 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14991282/main.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • Libya oil project expected to progress despite Petrofac collapse

    31 October 2025

     

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    The tender process for Libya’s 6J North Gialo oil field development project is expected to progress following Petrofac’s announcement that it has gone into administration, according to industry sources.

    UK-based Petrofac is one of just two companies that submitted bids for the project. The other is Egypt-based Petrojet.

    In September, MEED revealed that the bids had been submitted for the project and were under evaluation.

    The client on the project is Libya’s Waha Oil Company and Petrofac completed the front-end engineering and design (feed) for the project in 2020.

    Waha is a joint venture of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), France’s TotalEnergies and US-based ConocoPhillips.

    Commenting on the impact of Petrofac’s insolvency, one industry source said: “This has definitely increased uncertainty for the project.

    “It could potentially mean that this contract is retendered, but there is a lot of confidence that this tender will still go ahead in some form.

    “Waha Oil and Libya’s NOC have made it clear that this project is a priority and they want it to go ahead.

    “Progress is still expected on this tender, but it is possible that there will be more delays before this contract is awarded and signed.”

    The 6J North Gialo field development project is part of a series of tenders that are collectively expected to be worth $1bn.

    The three projects are:

    • NC98
    • Gialo 3
    • 6J North Gialo

    All three projects will develop Libyan reservoirs that have not yet been tapped.

    The 6J North Gialo project was the first to be tendered and it is expected to be followed by NC98, with the Gialo 3 project likely to be tendered last.

    Together, the projects are expected to double Waha’s production from about 300,000 barrels a day (b/d) of oil to 600,000 b/d. The Waha concession covers 13 million acres.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14990491/main.png
    Wil Crisp
  • Firms prepare project management bids for Dorra gas scheme

    31 October 2025

    Engineering firms are preparing to submit bids to Al-Khafji Joint Operations (KJO) for a tender covering project management consultancy (PMC) for the multibillion-dollar Dorra gas field facilities development project.

    MEED reported in March that KJO was pushing forward with a major project to produce gas from the Dorra offshore field, located in Gulf waters in the Neutral Zone shared by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

    KJO has divided the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) scope of work on the project to produce gas from the Dorra field into four EPC packages – three offshore and one onshore.

    The broad scope of services under the tender involves providing PMC for EPC works for the Dorra gas facilities development project.

    KJO issued the tender for PMC services for EPC works on the Dorra gas facilities development project on 29 September. Engineering firms have until 24 November to submit bids for the tender, sources told MEED.

    According to sources, the following firms, among others, are understood to be bidding for the PMC tender:

    • Fluor (US)
    • KBR (US)
    • Kent (Saudi Arabia/UAE)
    • Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)
    • Wood (UK)
    • Worley (Australia)

    KJO hosted a job explanation meeting with the bidders for the tender on 15 October, as per sources.

    ALSO READ: Saudi Arabia and Kuwait accelerate Dorra gas field development

    MEED recently reported that Indian contractor Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (L&TEH) has won the main EPC contract for offshore package 1 of the Dorra gas field facilities project.

    The contract awarded by KJO to L&TEH is estimated to be valued between $140m and $150m, sources told MEED.

    In August, MEED reported that L&TEH had emerged as the frontrunner to win offshore package 1 of the Dorra gas field facilities project, based on KJO's initial bid evaluation.

    Contractors submitted bids for the package by a deadline of 2 June, it was previously reported.

    With regards to the other three EPC packages of the Dorra gas field offshore and onshore facilities project, the following contractors are understood to be among those bidding:

    • Lamprell (Saudi Arabia/UAE)
    • Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (India)
    • McDermott (US)
    • NMDC Energy (UAE)
    • Saipem (Italy)

    Contractors are currently working towards a bid submission deadline of 31 October for the project's other three EPC packages – offshore packages 2A and 2B and onshore package 3, according to sources.

    The previous bid submission deadlines for the three packages were 30 June, 31 July, 25 August and 15 September.

    The EPC scope of work on the packages of the Dorra gas field offshore and onshore facilities project is as follows:

    Package 2A – Dorra gas field wellhead topsides, flowlines and umbilicals

    • Seven gas wellhead platforms or topsides, with production routed to the central gathering platform
    • Corrosion-resistant, alloy-lined intra-field flowlines and umbilicals connecting the gas wellhead platforms to the central gathering platform and the auxiliary platform

    Package 2B: Dorra central gathering platform complex, export pipelines and cables

    • Central gathering platform
    • Auxiliary platform
    • Dorra accommodation platform
    • Flare platform
    • Bridge platform
    • Pipelines for gas and condensate transmission to each shareholder
    • Produced water pipeline from the central gathering platform to Al-Khafji field and from the planned onshore processing facility next to the Al-Zour refinery in Kuwait to Al-Khafji field
    • Recovered monoethylene glycol (MEG) pipeline from Al-Khafji field to the central gathering platform
    • Control and power system linking Al-Khafji onshore facilities to offshore units
    • Offshore central control room at Dorra accommodation platform

    Package 3: Onshore gas processing facilities

    • Buildings to be constructed as part of KJO’s Dorra project onshore package include:
      • Dorra control building
      • Operator building
      • Operations, maintenance and engineering building
      • Process interface building
      • Onshore 115/69kV substation
      • Two gas-insulated substations
      • Warehouse
      • Maintenance building
      • Mosque
      • Telecommunications tower radio building
      • Beach valve substation at the planned onshore processing facility next to the Al-Zour refinery in Kuwait
         
    • Processing facilities for KJO's onshore package:
      • Produced water receiving and treatment
      • Sour water stripping and treated water system
      • Rich MEG storage tank
      • MEG regeneration and reclamation
      • Recovered hydrocarbons system
      • Lean MEG storage and supply
      • Fresh MEG storage and supply
      • Beach valve stations at Al-Khafji and Al-Zour
         
    • Utilities:
      • Instrument and plant air system
      • Nitrogen generation system
      • Diesel storage and distribution system
      • Fuel gas system
      • Closed drain and slop tank system
      • Hazardous area open drains system
      • Industrial water system
      • Drinking water system
      • Flare gas recovery system and a low-pressure flare system
      • Fire water system
      • Emergency diesel generator
      • Sewage treatment

    The Dorra field is estimated to hold 20 trillion cubic metres of gas and 310 million barrels of oil.

    Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have been working together to develop the offshore field since it was discovered in 1965. The two sides expect to produce about 1 billion cubic feet a day of gas from the asset and have agreed to split the gas output equally.

    A geopolitical tussle over ownership of the asset has hampered progress.

    Iran, which calls the field Arash, claims that it partially extends into its territory and that Tehran should be a stakeholder in any development project. 

    Kuwait and Saudi Arabia maintain that the Dorra field lies entirely in the waters of their shared territory, known as the Neutral Zone or Divided Zone, and that Iran has no legal basis for its claim. 

    In February 2024, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia reiterated their claim to the Dorra field in a joint statement issued during an official meeting in Riyadh between Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

    KJO, which is jointly owned by Saudi Aramco subsidiary Aramco Gulf Operations Company and Kuwait Gulf Oil Company, a subsidiary of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), is understood to have issued the tenders for the project in August 2024.

    MEED reported in September 2023 that Aramco and KPC had selected France’s Technip Energies to carry out front-end engineering and design (feed) and pre-feed work on the Dorra offshore field development project.

    The original feed work for a project to develop the field was performed more than a decade ago. However, due to changes in technology, the engineering design needed to be updated before the project could reach a final investment decision.

    ALSO READ: Kent wins feed contract for Khafji desalter plant upgrade
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14989042/main1446.jpg
    Indrajit Sen