Prequalified bidders have been given two more weeks to prepare and submit their proposals for a contract to develop and operate Saudi Arabia’s second independent water transmission pipeline (IWTP) project, which links Jubail and Buraydah. Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) has extended the tender closing date from the end of June to mid-July. The planned Jubail-Buraydah IWTP is a 603-kilometre (km) pipeline that can transmit 650,000 cubic metres of water a day. It is larger than the Rayis-Rabigh IWTP project, which a consortium including the local Alkhorayef Water & Power Technologies Company will develop and operate at a cost of $2bn. SWPC issued the request for proposals for the Jubail-Buraydah IWTP scheme to the prequalified bidders in October last year.  At least three consortiums were forming to bid for the contract. At the time, it was understood that discussions were still ongoing among other prequalified bidders about whether to either join the consortiums or form separate ones. The transaction advisory team for the client comprises US/India’s Synergy Consulting as financial adviser and the local Amer Al-Amr and Germany’s Fichtner Consulting as legal and technical advisers, respectively. SWPC’s obligations under the water transfer agreement will be guaranteed by a credit support agreement entered into by the Finance Ministry on behalf of the Saudi government. The project is part of the kingdom’s National Water Strategy 2030, which aims to reduce the water demand-supply gap and ensure desalinated water accounts for 90% of national urban supply to reduce reliance on non-renewable ground sources. SWPC’s Seven-Year Planning Statement calls for developing eight IWTP projects by 2028. (ICE RIYADH)

Fonte notizia: Meed