MEW - Az Zour North IWPP Plant - Al Asimah - Project Profile

The Ministry of Electricity and Water, Kuwait (MEW), through the Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB), is undertaking the construction of Az Zour North IWPP Plant project in Al Zour, Kuwait.

The project will be Kuwait's first public-private partnership (KPPP) project and will be developed by The Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB).

The project involves the construction of a Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP). It will be developed in phases.

The project will be developed on a design, build, finance, operate and maintain (DBFOM) basis by Az-Zour Oula Power and Water Company (AOPWC), a special purpose vehicle, which will be established as a Kuwaiti public joint stock company under the laws of the State of Kuwait with forty percent (40%) to be owned by the Engie-led consortium and the remainder held by Public Entities and Kuwaiti nationals.

Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP) has been appointed as the associate developer.

MEW awarded advisory services contract to consortium of BNP Paribas, Chadbourne & Parke and Lahmeyer International.

> The first phase includes the construction of a 1,539MW power plant with 107 million gallons per day (MGPD) water desalination plant.

In December 2010, eleven companies were pre-qualified for the design, build, finance, operate and maintain (DBFOM) contract of first phase including AES Oasis Energy Incorporated, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, Consortium of Acwa Power, GIC and Samsung, Consortium of Engie and Kepco, Consortium of Mitsui and Kharafi Group, General Electric, International Power, Malakoff International, Marubeni Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation and Tenaga Nasional Berhad.

In September 2011, five consortia submitted bids for the project. The consortia comprise, ACWA, Samsung and GIC; Engie/International Power, Sumitomo and AH al-Sagar & Brothers; Malakoff Corp Berhad, SK Group and National Industries Group; Marubeni and Alghanim Industries; and Mitsui, Kharafi and Ahmadiah Group. The contract involves the designing, building, financing, and operation of the 1,500MW power and desalination plant.

In March 2012, Engie and International Power consortium were selected over two other shortlisted groups as the preferred bidders for Kuwait’s first independent water and power project (IWPP).

On January 8, 2013, Engie, Sumitomo Corporation (Japan) and Kuwaiti partner Abdulla Hamad Al Sagar & Brothers consortium was appointed as the DBFOM contractor.

On March 12, 2013, Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and SIDEM, a subsidiary of Veolia were appointed as the EPC contractors for the power plant and desalination plant respectively.

Veolia’s Sidem group has been appointed to provide its MED technology and Amec Foster Wheeler has been appointed as Lead consultant.

The consortium of NBK, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Nippon Export and Investment Insurance, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi , Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Standard Chartered Bank will finance US$1400 million.

In January 2014, construction activities commenced.

In November 2014, Jurong Engineering Ltd (JEL) secured a subcontract from HHI. JEL’s scope of work includes fabrication and installation of piping works for power block with pipe rack, and fabrication and installation of piping work for desalination.

On November 28, 2016, construction works completed.

> The second phase includes the construction of a 1,539MW power plant with 107MGPD water desalination plant.

On April 21, 2013, PTB announced the invitation to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) for the purchase of the Request for Proposals (RFP) of the second phase.

In May 2015, KAPP issued a request for qualification (RFQ) notification.

In August 2015, Seven bidders or consortia were pre-qualified for the second phase are Abengoa; Acwa Power and Al-Mulla; Kepco; Marubeni and Fouad al-Ghanim; Mitsubishi; Mitsui; and Sumitomo, Osaka Gas Company, National Industries Holding Consortium.

In November 2015, KAPP has invited tender for the pre-qualified bidders with submission deadline by January 16, 2016.

In June 2016, KAPP received three consortium proposals for Design Build Finance Operate and Maintenance (DBFOM) from the pre-qualified bidders.

As of September 2016, evaluation of technical bids is underway.

In August 2017, the second phase of the project was cancelled and announced its plans to integrate the second phase with the third phase of the project.

> The third phase plans included the construction of a 800MW power plant with 50MGPD water desalination plant. However, the exact scope is yet to be decided, as the second phase of the project is expected to be integrated into this phase.

> The fourth phase includes the construction of 1,000MW power plant and the fifth phase includes construction of 25MGPD water capacity desalination plant.

KAPP is expected to invite tenders for the third and fourth phases in 2019.