State water offtaker Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) has completed the bid evaluation process for the contract to develop an independent water project (IWP) in Jubail in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

A team comprising Saudi-headquartered companies Acwa Power, Haji Abdullah Alireza & Company (Haaco) and AlSharif Contracting & Commercial Development submitted a bid for the contract in September.

SWPC said the team offered to develop the Jubail 4 and 6 IWP for SR1.8 ($0.48) a cubic metre.

The contract covers developing and operating two water desalination plants – Jubail 4 and Jubail 6 – with a total combined capacity of 600,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) using reverse osmosis technology.

The state water offtaker requested proposals for the Jubail 4 & 6 IWP in January this year, four months after it qualified nine individual companies and consortiums to bid for the contract.

The desalination plants will be located 18 kilometres south of Jubail Industrial City, adjacent to four existing desalination units – Jubail phase one, Jubail phase two, and the Jubail 3A and 3B IWP facilities.

As with the previous seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) IWP contracts awarded in the kingdom, the successful bidder, through a project company, will develop the project and sell the entire capacity and output to SWPC under a 25-year water-purchase agreement (WPA).

The project’s commercial operation date is expected in the first quarter of 2028.

A credit support agreement from the government of Saudi Arabia backs SWPC’s obligations under the WPA.

SWPC’s transaction advisory team for the project comprises Netherlands-headquartered KPMG Professional Services as lead and financial adviser, UK-based Eversheds Sutherland as legal adviser and Canada’s WSP as technical adviser.

It also appointed UAE-based Future Water & Power Consulting to assist with the project tender and with finalising the site studies required for the bid.

Recent IWPs

SWPC has so far awarded the contracts for six IWP projects: Rabigh 3, Shuqaiq 3, Yanbu 4 (Ar-Rayis 1), Jubail 3A, Jubail 3B and Rabigh 4. A seventh contract for developing the Shuaibah 3 SWRO plan was also directly negotiated and awarded in 2022.

The seven IWP schemes have a total combined capacity of 3.3 million cm/d.

SWPC received two bids in April for a contract to develop the 300,000 cm/d Ras Mohaisen IWP scheme.

The bidders were Spain’s Acciona and a team comprising the local firms Acwa Power, Haaco and AlKifah Holding.