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Finance in place for Qatar $1bn sewage deal

27 April 2023

The developer team is expected to reach financial close for the contract to develop Qatar’s first public-private partnership (PPP) sewage treatment plant (STP) imminently, sources close to the project tell MEED.

The Wakra and Al-Wukair independent sewage treatment plant (ISTP) project is estimated to require over $1bn in investment.

Financial close could be reached as early as this week, or at most within a month, according to the sources.  

It will be financed on a 75:25 debt-to-equity ratio. 

MEED understands UK-headquartered Pinsent Masons is the international counsel to the lenders.

Qatar’s Public Works Authority (Ashghal) awarded a Metito-led consortium the contract to develop the project in January 2022, as MEED reported.

Other members of the winning consortium are local firm Al-Attiya Motors & Trading Company and Kuwait’s Gulf Investment Corporation.

Metito is also the project’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor.

The other team that made a final offer for the contract to develop the Wakra and Al-Wukair ISTP project comprised Japan’s Marubeni and France’s Veolia.

The developer teams submitted their best and final offer for the contract in late January 2021.

The bidding teams’ initial and final commercial offers were not disclosed throughout the bid evaluation process.

Ashghal prequalified seven groups for the ISTP contract in August 2019 and issued the request for proposals (RFP) the following month.

The prequalified bidders were:

  • Acciona (Spain)
  • Majis International (Oman)
  • Metito / Mitsubishi (Japan) / UCC (local)
  • Power China / Mirqab (local) / Redco (local) / Kangda Group (China)
  • Suez (France) / Itochu (Japan)
  • Sumitomo (Japan)
  • Veolia (France) / Marubeni (Japan)

The planned STP will have a treatment capacity of 150,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d), extendable to 600,000 cm/d in a later phase.

The project also involves the construction of a pumping station, two deep-shaft structures, and a tunnel ventilation and odour-control facility.

The public-private partnership agreement (PPPA) with Ashghal covers the development of the STP on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.

The PPPA will be for 25 years, with Ashghal’s payment obligations backed by a sovereign guarantee.

UK firms PwC, Mott MacDonald and Eversheds Sutherland provided financial, technical and legal advisory services to the client on the project.

US/India-based Synergy Consulting is financial adviser to the Metito consortium. 

In March 2022, Ashghal awarded Mott MacDonald the project management consultancy contract for the independent sewage treatment plant project.

The contract was worth QR41.76m.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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