Saudi utility firm to pre-qualify bidders for water pipeline project

State-owned utility services provider Saudi Water Partnerships Company (SWPC) has issued a request for proposals (RFPs) to pre-qualified bidders for the development of the Rayis-Rabigh Independent Water Transmission Pipeline (IWTP) project that will have a 500,000 cubic metre per day transmission capacity.

The 150-kilometre long pipeline project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2025, the utility services provider said in a statement on its website.

A total of 14 consortiums have been pre-qualified for the project, including Spanish infrastructure major Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios; Japan’s Marubeni Corporation; Chinese group Harbour Engineering Company, UAE’s Utico and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company and Kuwait’s Gulf Investment Corporation (TAQA).

In August 2021, the company announced plans to conduct a competitive process to select a consortium for the project, which will be implemented on a build, own, operate and transfer basis.

The successful bidder will provide the entire transmission capacity to SWPC under a 35-year water transmission agreement. The obligations under the contract will be backed by a credit support agreement from the government.

The IWTP programme strives to achieve the two primary goals of slashing the water-demand supply gap and providing 90 percent of the national urban supply through desalinated water to cut reliance on non-renewable ground sources.