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UAE PPP activity rises

8 October 2024

 

All eyes are on Dubai in the final quarter of the year as it endeavours to bring to the market its largest infrastructure project to date.

The prequalification process is under way for potential investors for the planned $22bn Dubai Strategic Sewerage Tunnels (DSST) project, which will be procured on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

The project's ambitious scope includes converting 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 sewage treatment plant (STP) treats the flow. The second catchment is in Bur Dubai, where the wastewater is treated at the Jebel Ali STP.

The DSST will replace 120 pump stations, saving approximately 100 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually, MEED has been told. 

The 25-35-year design-build-finance procurement model is also ambitious, given that Dubai has a dismal PPP track record, with the exception of electricity and water generation projects.

The DSST project has met major interest from engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors. A total of 21 individual companies and consortiums prequalified to bid for the project’s three tunnels and terminal pump station packages – J1, J2 and W. Nineteen have been prequalified to bid for package J3.

The client is expected to run a separate prequalification process for the packages to upgrade the two existing STPs.

At the time of writing, Dubai Municipality, the project client, has yet to receive the statements of qualifications from interested investors.

Industry sources have indicated, however, that those that have shown early interest include Japan's Marubeni Corporation and Itochu, Australia's Plenary Group, Belgium's Besix, China Railway Engineering Corporation and China Harbour Engineering Company, and potentially some Israeli investors.

The project is essential to support Dubai’s economic expansion and sustainability ambitions, notes a source close to the scheme, stopping short of saying that the lack of suitable infrastructure could limit the extent to which the emirate can grow.

So far, while everyone agrees that the project is imperative, some need further convincing of the likelihood of success for the project’s chosen PPP route.

“It is a civil construction project with limited operation and maintenance scope,” says a senior executive with an infrastructure investor, who adds that the government of Dubai can raise a bond much cheaper than equity.

A senior transaction adviser not linked to the project notes, however, that since PPPs are a combination of debt and equity, “overall, PPPs are cheaper for governments”.

The latter adds that the PPP route is doable if the project is tendered in phases or one at a time, as is currently planned.

 Water desalination and treatment projects

In recent months, the UAE has also seen an uptick in water desalination plants utilising reverse osmosis technology.

Three independent water projects (IWPs) are under construction, including Abu Dhabi’s Mirfa 2 and Shuweihat 4, and Hassyan 1 in Dubai. The three seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plants have a total combined capacity of 370 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD).

Negotiations are under way for the contract to develop Abu Dhabi’s next IWP on Saadiyat Island, while the request for qualifications for another project, the 90MIGD Al-Nouf IWP, is expected to be issued in December this year or January 2025.

Sharjah Electricity & Water Authority (Sewa) also awarded the contract to develop its first IWP scheme this year to Saudi Arabia-headquartered Acwa Power, which was the tender’s sole bidder.

The $682m, 90MIGD project is expected to reach financial close soon.

"This is Sharjah’s first IWP and, unlike other jurisdictions such as Oman, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, the emirate has yet to establish a track record with PPPs, especially in power and water," says Robert Bryniak, CEO of Dubai-based Golden Sands Management (Marketing) Consulting.

He notes that once the Hamriyah IWP reaches financial close and commercial operations, Sewa should be able to attract more developers for future IWPs. 

Sewa is not the only utility launching its maiden IWP. Etihad Water & Utility (Etihad WE) is understood to have conducted a market-sounding event earlier this year for a small SWRO plant to complement the capacity of an existing facility in Ghalilah in Ras Al-Khaimah, another of the UAE's northern emirates.

Ras Al-Khaimah's Public Services Department and Investment & Development Office have also started the tendering proceedings for the emirate's first independent sewage treatment plant project.

The proposed plant will be able to treat 60,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) of sewage water, which could be expanded to 150,000 cm/d.

The project has garnered strong interest from the market, with the following companies and consortiums having been prequalified to bid for the contract:

  • Acciona (Spain)
  • Besix (Belgium)
  • China Harbour Engineering Company (China) / BOWT
  • Cobra (Tedagua, Spain)
  • GS Inima (Spain/South Korea) / Alkhorayef Water & Power Technologies (Saudi Arabia)
  • Etihad Water & Electricity (UAE) / Saur (France)
  • FCC Aqualia (Spain)
  • MA Kharafi (Kuwait) / Passavant Energy & Environment (UAE, Germany)
  • Metito
  • Miahona Company (Saudi Arabia)
  • Orascom Construction (Egypt)
  • Sustainable Water Solutions (UAE)
  • Veolia Middle East (France / local)

MEED understands that the scope of the build, own, operate and transfer scheme will include extensive sewerage and distribution works, in addition to the STP.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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    READ THE JULY 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Stress test for Gulf aviation; Mixed performance as country outlooks diverge in the Levant; GCC tourism sector pivots from crisis to recovery mode.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the July 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
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