Abu Dhabi shortlists 25 firms for water desalination plant

Abu Dhabi has shortlisted 25 bidders, including Japanese and French firms, to build its first independent water desalination plant, the emirate’s department of energy (DoE) said on Monday.

Abu Dhabi’s current water production capacity stands at around 960 million gallons per day from 10 water desalination plants, enough to meet demand. It is building more plants to ensure security of supply to meet future demand.

The capital of the United Arab Emirates has traditionally built water and power generation plants side by side, but is building the 200 million gallons per day (GPD) project independent of a power plant.

Read: Abu Dhabi invites bids for huge water desalination plant

Twenty five companies have been shortlisted out of 40 that expressed interest in the tender for Taweelah RO (reverse osmosis) water project, Mohamed bin Jarsh al-Falasi, under secretary, at the DoE told reporters.

Among those shortlisted are Marubeni Corporation, Mitsubishi Corp, Sumitomo Corp JGC Corp as well as Engie, Veolia, Suez and Acwa Power.

Local firms shortlisted include PAL Group and Utico.

A developer or developer consortium will be selected from the shortlist and a water purchase and shareholder agreement will be signed in 2019, Falasi said.

Construction is scheduled for 2020-21 and commercial operations are due to start in 2022.

The selected developer or developer consortium will own up to 40 per cent of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with the rest held directly or indirectly by the DoE.