Water demand, Water & Electricity L.L.C (WEC) has issued a Request for Expressions of Interest for The Yanbu and Shuqaiqi Independent Water Projects.  Interested parties should express their interest to participate in the tender process by 23 November 2017.

WEC will conduct a competitive process to select a developer or developer consortium for the development, financing, engineering, procurement, construction, implementation, operation and maintenance of the Project/Bundle, together with associated infrastructure and facilities.

WEC has been advised by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (DIFC Branch) as Lead and Financial Adviser, DLA Piper Saudi Arabia as Legal Adviser, and ILF-Tecon & Partners Engineering PSC as Technical Adviser.

The project company to be incorporated to develop the project will sell the entire water desalination/water desalination and power capacity and output to WEC under a 25 year Water/Power and Water Purchase Agreement. WEC’s obligations under the Purchase Agreement will be supported by a credit support agreement from the Government of KSA.

Parties wishing to participate as a sole developer or lead developer must return executed versions of the confidentiality undertaking in order to receive a request for qualification (RFQ) document, which WEC expects to issue in December 2017.

Responses to the RFQ should only be submitted by developers seeking qualification as a sole developer, or lead developer as part of a developer consortium. The RFQ will include further information, including a description of the project, an outline of the tender process and eligibility criteria for pre-qualification of interested parties.

The Yanbu and Shuqaiqi Independent Water Plants are expected to have a net potable water capacity of 450,000 m³/day and 380,000 m³/day respectively, using reverse osmosis seawater desalination technology. The IWPs will be located near the city of Yanbu, on the Red Sea coast, approximately 220 km west of Medina, and  in the city of Shuqaiq, on the Red Sea coast, approximately 137 km north of Jazan. Both plants will be powered by electricity from the high voltage grid.