Six firm in frame for UAE water, power project

Six international consortiums have been pre-qualified to bid for Abu Dhabi's ninth independent water and power project (IWPP), with the winner expected to be chosen by mid 2013, a senior official of the emirate's utility has said.

The selected developer will take a 40 percent stake in a special purpose company in which the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (Adwea) will hold the rest.

"Next month the bids will be received from the six pre-qualified groups and after evaluation we will select the developer," Adwea general director Abdulla Saif al Nuaimi told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

The selection will be made by July, he said.

The 1,500-megawatt (MW) and 55 million gallon per day Mirfa plant will be located on the Gulf coast 160km from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE.

The six pre-qualified consortiums are led by Japan's Marubeni, GDF-Suez, Singapore's SembCorp , Japan's Sumitomo Corporation, France's EDF and Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries.

Abu Dhabi produces more than 9,000 MW of electricity from its eight independent water and power projects, most of which is consumed in Abu Dhabi and about 22 percent exported to the northern emirates, according to latest Adwea statistics.

Demand is forecast to grow at 11.3 percent annually in Abu Dhabi up to 2015.