Dubai tunnels bid list due before end of January
6 January 2025
The list of prequalified developers for the first four packages of the $22bn Dubai Strategic Sewerage Tunnels (DSST) project will be announced before the end of January 2025.
According to an industry source, the project client, Dubai Municipality, is finalising the list, which "may include some surprises" in terms of the companies that have passed the prequalification process.
Potential investors submitted their statements of qualifications (SoQs) for the contracts to develop and operate various packages of the project in October 2024.
MEED reported that the 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 were 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)
- Nesma Company (Saudi Arabia)
- Plenary (Australia)
- Samsung C&T (South Korea)
- Vision Invest (Saudi Arabia)
- Webuild (Italy)
The request for proposals for the project's first two packages will be issued soon after the list of prequalified investors is announced.
MEED previously reported that the bidders for the PPP packages will 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.
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.
The third package, W for Warsan, 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. MEED understands that these packages will be procured at a later stage.
Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.
Exclusive from Meed
-
-
-
-
-
Firms submit Jeddah distribution centre bids4 May 2026
All of this is only 1% of what MEED.com has to offer
Subscribe now and unlock all the 153,671 articles on MEED.com
- All the latest news, data, and market intelligence across MENA at your fingerprints
- First-hand updates and inside information on projects, clients and competitors that matter to you
- 20 years' archive of information, data, and news for you to access at your convenience
- Strategize to succeed and minimise risks with timely analysis of current and future market trends
Related Articles
-
Parsons wins role on Elon Musk-backed Dubai Loop project
4 May 2026
US-based Parsons Corporation has been appointed to deliver programme management services for the Dubai Loop transportation system.
The contract was awarded by Elon Musk-backed firm The Boring Company, which signed a construction agreement with Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) in February.
Parsons’ scope of work includes independent design verification, stakeholder management, permitting and no-objection certificate (NOC) support, and multidisciplinary design reviews for the project’s first phase.
The first phase comprises a 6.4-kilometre route with four stations, linking the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Dubai Mall.
Stations will be located at DIFC 2, ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai Mall Zabeel Parking and Burj Khalifa.
The first phase is expected to cost about AED565m ($154m) and to be delivered within one year after design work and other preparations are completed. Tunnelling is expected to begin in the second half of this year.
Next phase
The second phase will connect Dubai World Trade Centre and DIFC with Business Bay.
The tunnels will extend up to 22km and include 19 stations.
The total cost across both phases is expected to be around AED2bn ($545m), with completion scheduled within three years.
The pilot route is expected to serve around 13,000 passengers a day, while the full route is projected to have a capacity of about 30,000 passengers a day.
The RTA and The Boring Company signed a memorandum of understanding on the sidelines of the World Governments Summit in Dubai in February last year to explore the development of the Dubai Loop transportation system.
The Dubai Loop is expected to be similar to The Boring Company’s Las Vegas Convention Centre (LVCC) Loop project. The LVCC Loop is a 2.7km underground tunnel system that connects different convention centre halls, reducing walking time across the site to about two minutes.
The LVCC Loop has been in operation since 2021. It uses Tesla Model 3 cars to carry passengers between five stations. The Boring Company began construction in November 2019 at an estimated cost of $49m.
.gif)
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16672074/main.jpg -
Humain tenders infrastructure for 6GW data centre campus
4 May 2026
Saudi artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure company Humain, owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has issued a tender inviting firms to develop infrastructure for its planned 6GW hyperscale AI data centre campus in Riyadh.
The project will be delivered on an early contractor involvement (ECI) basis. Under the ECI process, selected contractors are required to submit methodologies and design proposals, after which one team will be selected to deliver the construction works.
Firms have until 8 May to submit proposals.
The development will be built on a 24-square-kilometre site in the Al-Saad area in east Riyadh. It will be delivered in two phases across six plots, each with a capacity of 1GW.
The scope of infrastructure work covers:
- Construction of 380kV/132kV/33kV electrical distribution network, two substations with a capacity of 500MVA and 200MVA, bulk supply point (2,000MVA)
- Water network and fire protection systems
- Sewage treatment plant and wastewater network
- Stormwater systems
- Roads
- Underground cable and fibre optic networks
- Landscaping works
The client is being supported by Canadian engineering firm Hatch, France’s Egis and US-based firm JLL.
Humain was launched in May last year to operate and invest across the AI value chain.
Humain is building full-stack AI capabilities across four core areas: next-generation data centres, hyper-performance infrastructure and cloud platforms, and advanced AI models, including Allam.
Also in May 2025, Humain signed preliminary deals with US chipmakers AMD and Nvidia to build multibillion-dollar advanced digital infrastructure in the kingdom.
AMD said it will invest up to $10bn to deploy 500MW of AI compute capacity in Saudi Arabia over the next five years.
In October, PIF and Saudi Aramco signed a non-binding term sheet setting out key terms under which Aramco would acquire a minority stake in Humain, with PIF retaining majority ownership.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16671267/main.jpg -
Abu Dhabi selects consortium for 2.5GW Taweelah C IPP
4 May 2026
Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access
A consortium of Al-Jomaih Energy & Water Company (Saudi Arabia) and Sembcorp Industries (Singapore) has been selected to develop the Taweelah C independent power producer (IPP) project in Abu Dhabi.
The consortium will sign a power purchase agreement (PPA) in mid-May, a source told MEED.
The combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant will have a capacity of 2.5GW. It will be located at the Al-Taweelah power and desalination complex, about 50 kilometres northeast of Abu Dhabi city.
It is understood that China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC) will be the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor.
Last September, MEED reported that state offtaker Emirates Water & Electricity Company (Ewec) had received three bids for the facility.
The bidders included:
- Al-Jomaih Energy & Water Company / Sembcorp Industries
- Sumitomo Corporation (Japan) / Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development Corporation / Korean Midland Power
- Korea Western Power Company / Etihad Water & Electricity (UAE) / Kyuden International (Japan)
At the time, Mohamed Al-Marzooqi, chief asset development and management officer at Ewec, said the bids would make Taweelah C “one of the lowest tariff CCGT projects in the region”.
The carbon-capture-ready facility had been scheduled to begin commercial operations in the fourth quarter of 2028.
This was based on the initial timeline for a PPA to be signed in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Taweelah C is part of Ewec’s wider programme to support the UAE’s Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative and the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Strategic Target 2035.
Ewec plans to raise solar power capacity to 18GW and wind capacity to 2.6GW by 2035, while reducing the carbon intensity of its power generation by more than half compared to 2019.
Ewec is also expanding its low-carbon water desalination capacity, with the Taweelah reverse osmosis (RO) plant already operating as the world’s largest RO facility and additional projects, such as the Mirfa 2 RO and Shuweihat 4 RO, under way.
By 2030, it expects 95% of Abu Dhabi’s installed water capacity to come from RO technology.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16670622/main0858.jpg -
Dubai launches Blue Line metro tunnelling works
4 May 2026
Dubai has announced the launch of tunnelling works for the Dubai Metro Blue Line extension project.
In a post on X, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, announced the start of operations of the tunnel boring machine (TBM), which the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has named ‘Al-Wugeisha’.
The TBM is 163 metres long, weighs more than 2,000 tonnes and will operate around the clock. The post added that its average excavation rate ranges from 13 to 17 metres a day.
The Blue Line will connect the existing Red and Green lines. It will be 30 kilometres (km) long, with 15.5km underground and 14.5km above ground.
The line will have 14 stations, seven of which will be elevated. There will be five underground stations, including one interchange station, and two elevated transfer stations connected to the existing Centrepoint and Creek stations.
In December 2024, the RTA awarded a AED20.5bn ($5.5bn) main contract for the construction of the project to a consortium comprising Turkiye’s Limak Holding and Mapa Group, along with the Hong Kong office of China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC).
The consortium is responsible for all civil works, electromechanical works, rolling stock and rail systems. After completing the project, it will assist with maintenance and operations for an initial three-year period.
According to an official statement, the Blue Line will have a capacity of 46,000 passengers an hour in both directions.
The project is scheduled for completion in September 2029.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16670584/main.jpeg -
Firms submit Jeddah distribution centre bids
4 May 2026
Contractors submitted bids on 26 April for an estimated SR140m ($37m) contract to build a distribution centre in Jeddah.
Saudi Logistics Services Company (SAL) launched the tender on 11 March, as previously reported by MEED. The project will cover an area of about 37,000 square metres. Egyptian firm Cosmos-E Engineers & Consultants has been appointed as the project consultant.
This tender follows the start of construction by Egyptian contractor Rowad Modern Engineering, a subsidiary of Elsewedy Electric Group, on the expansion of SAL’s facilities at King Khalid International airport in Riyadh. The scope of work includes rehabilitating and upgrading existing infrastructure, as well as constructing new supporting facilities and services.
SAL also launched the tendering process in September last year for its SR4.2bn ($1bn) logistics zone in northern Riyadh, MEED previously reported. UAE-based Global Engineering Consultants is the consultant for that development.
The logistics hub aims to meet demand for customised warehouses near King Khalid International airport and the Riyadh Metro. The project aligns with Vision 2030 and the National Transport & Logistics Strategy, which aims to strengthen the kingdom’s logistics sector and enhance Saudi Arabia’s position as a global logistics hub.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16670338/main.gif