Saudi-Malaysian Consortium was selected as the top bidder to build the SR9 billion Shoaiba Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP), the Water and Electricity Company (WEC) announced here yesterday.
Shoaiba is the first of the four IWPP projects which will be implemented by private sector, under Supreme Economic Council's resolution 5/23 issued on 3rd June, 2002 .The other three projects include Shuqaiq, Raz Azzour and Jubail.
"The Saudi-Malaysian Consortium will build, own and operate the 900 MW and 880,000 m3/d Shoaiba IWPP," Omar Alghamdi, the President of WEC, said in a press statement published today.
"WEC will now enter into contractual negotiations with the consortium and the Power and Water Purchase Agreement (PWPA) will be signed between the two parties in October for a period of 20 years."
He added that the closing date under the PWPA will be during the first quarter of 2006.
The credit support is to be provided by the Ministry of Finance. Sixty percent of the share capital will be owned by the Consortium, thirty two percent will be owned by Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the remaining eight percent will be owned by Saudi Electricity Company (SEC).
The Saudi-Malaysian Consortium has the support of international and Saudi Finance Parties including ABN Amro, Arab Bank PLC, Export-Import Bank of Korea, Riyad Bank and Saudi Hollandi Bank.
In April, 2004, WEC issued request for proposals to 11 pre-qualified bidding groups to select a developer or developer consortium to own 60 percent of the project.
On his part, Abdullah bin Abdul-Rahman Al-Hussayen, the Minister of Water and Electricity, said it was a significant step in the development and privatization of Saudi Arabia's water and power sector. While acknowledging the support and assistance from various organizations, the Minister stressed that the project has had the full support of the Government. "The output from the Shoiaba IWPP will play a major role in meeting the increasing demand for water and power in the Western region covering cities such as Jeddah, Makkah and Taif."
Following the announcement of a competitive tender for the development of the Shuqaiq IWPP, WEC has received 44 Expressions of Interests (EI) from interested international, regional and local parties to build, own and operate the 850 MW and 212,000 m3/d project. WEC has sent the request for qualification documents to all the applicants.
