UAE’s Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA) has announced a consortium led by Saudi’s ACWA Power and Tecton Engineering & Construction as the preferred bidder to build a desalination plant in Umm Al Quwain.
The plant, a partnership with the private sector, will be capable of processing 45 million gallons of sea water per day into potable water, according to FEWA.
FEWA said it will now start a final round of contract discussions with a view to completing the financial close and ancillary documents by Q3 this year.
Three further plants due to be built in UAE will be announced later this year, in order meet rising demand across the country, according to Mohammed Salah, director-general of FEWA.
“This is the first FEWA’s desalination plant in cooperation with the private sector and the authority intends to commence three other desalination plants following the same model which will be tendered before the end of this current year,” said Salah.
“As per a study conducted, the locations and capacity of the other three plants are defined. As per FEWA strategic plan, FEWA will be totally independent and securing its water demand by 2022.”
