Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC), the principal off-taker for water and wastewater projects in Saudi Arabia, has named the consortium of local company  Vision International Investment Company, Bahrain's Gulf Investment Corporation and the UAE's TAQA as the preferred bidder for its 2.5 million cubic metres Juranah Independent Strategic Water Reservoir (ISWR) Project in Makkah city.

SWPC said in a statement dated 23 November 2023 that the preferred bidder submitted a levelised water storage tariff of 18.11137 halalas per cubic metres per day (equivalent to $0.048/m3/day) for the project.

The consortium of local company Abdul Aziz Al Ajlan Sons Co. for Commercial & Real Estate Investment and Egypt's Orascom Construction, which was named the reserve bidder, submitted a tariff of 24.07696 halalas/m3/day ($0.064/m3/day).

The project comprises of strategic water storage tanks with a total capacity of 2,000,000 m3 and operational tanks with a total capacity of 500,000 m3 to support the potable water distribution system to serve the residents and visitors of Makkah city in addition to Hajj and Umrah pilgrims.

The SWPC statement said the project would be developed under Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) for a period of 30 years, adding that it is expected to start commercial operations in the first quarter 2027.

In July 2023, SWPC had announced that it has received bids from three consortiums led by Abdul Aziz Al Ajlan Sons, Nesma and Vision International respectively for the Juranah ISWR project.

Read more: Saudi Arabia prequalifies 17 firms for Juranah Independent Strategic Water Reservoirs project

(Writing by Anoop Menon; Editing by Dennis Daniel)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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