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The consortium led by WTE Wassertechnik GmbH Group (WTE) bid lowest on the Umm Al Hayman wastewater project in Kuwait, offering a price 6% below rival bidder Kharafi National KSC.

Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP) had invited the qualified consortia for the project in collaboration with Ministry of Public Works to the public session for the opening of the financial envelopes.

The project shall involve design, build, finance, operate and transfer of a wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of 500,000 m3/day (with an option to expand the capacity by an additional 200,000 m 3 /day) as a first stage, also upgrading, extension and refurbishment of pumping stations, of Egaila, Riqqa and UAH City stations, along with the construction of the networks of pipes and transmission systems of wastewater and treated water from and to the treatment plant.

The project’s objectives include the improvement of the overall state of infrastructure in Kuwait’s water and wastewater sector; ensuring the standard of sanitary services in the country adheres to both international and local environmental guidelines and best practices.

Umm Al-Hayman is the first of its kind to be developed under the PPP law 116 of 2014 in Kuwait. MPW will enter into a PPP agreement for a period of 27.5-year that includes:

• build, operate and transfer (BOT) agreement, whereby the investor will be responsible for the design, financing, construction, rehabilitation, commissioning of the wastewater plant in 2.5 years, followed by a 25-year period of operations and maintenance. At the end of the PPP agreement term, the asset will be transferred to MPW; and

• a 5.5-year design, build and operate (DBO) agreement for the associated wastewater transmission and sewage effluent networks, whereby the Government of Kuwait will finance the capital costs of the assets and the investor will be required to build the networks followed by a 3-year period of operations and maintenance before they are handed back to MPW.

The total project investment is estimated at US$1.8 billion.

The project is part of the country's plan to raise its power-generation capacity to meet the expansion of residential developments across Kuwait as well as to boost manufacturing, and develop new industries such as tourism.