Public procurement notice: Prior Information Notice Without Call For Competition
Published: 2019-05-15
Buyer: Palestinian Water Authority, PWA
Country: PS
Contract type: Works
Procedure: Restricted procedure
CPV classification: 45252126 | 45253100 | 65122000

Technical requirements: BEI - Proyecto relativo a la construcción, la explotación y el mantenimiento de una planta de desalinización
BEI - Progetto riguardante la costruzione, l’esercizio e la manutenzione di un impianto di desalinizzazione
The GCDP is multi-donor funded programme. A pledging conference was successfully hosted by the European Commission in March 2018.
Availability of fresh water resources per capita in the Gaza Strip is amongst the lowest in the world. Currently 2 000 000 Palestinians in Gaza rely, almost exclusively, on the Coastal Aquifer as a source of fresh water. However, water extracted from the Coastal Aquifer is not sufficient to meet demand, both in terms of quantity as well as quality.
Currently, only 3 % of the water extracted from the aquifer complies with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) drinking water quality guidelines. To compound matters, domestic water demand is projected to increase from 95 million cubic meters (MCM) per year in 2015 to more than 170 MCM in 2035 based on the forecast population growth rate of 2.6 % in the Gaza Strip.
To address the issues, the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) has developed a rolling program of interventions aiming to improve fresh water management along with the development of alternative sources of potable water. Specifically, by 2022 PWA plans to implement the following measures:
— increase supply from bulk water resources (through the construction of a central desalination plant).
In this context, the construction of a large-scale desalination plant, along with the associated supply and distribution infrastructure, has been confirmed by all major stakeholders including the European Commission (EC), the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank (WB), as the preferred option to enable Gaza to stabilize and replenish back again the coastal aquifer and secure its water supply around its hydraulic yield capacity.
PWA (in partnership with international institutions including EC, EIB, UfM, IDB and WB), has prepared a comprehensive integrated investment program, known as the (i) Gaza Central Desalination Plant and (ii) Associated Works Program (GCDP or Program) that comprises the following components:
— construction and operation of a seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant with a production capacity of approximately 150 000 m
— installation of an on-site fossil fuel power plant and an on-site photovoltaic (PV) plant (installed on the roofs of the SWRO buildings) along with the construction of off-site renewable power generation facilities consisting of a PV plant on ground structures and two wind turbines.
— construction of a north-south water carrier for transport of desalinated water and storage reservoirs for the blending of desalinated water with water from other sources, primarily groundwater,
— a non-revenue water (NRW) reduction plan which includes the reconfiguration of the water distribution system aimed at reducing NRW to about 20 % (in the year 2030) and to increase revenue collection efficiency from the current 38 % to more than 80 %.
Engineering, procurement and construction contract for a seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant with an annual capacity of 55 000 000 cubic meters (Phase I) including a grid connection and an onsite power plant (reciprocating engines approx. 34 MWe) and a PV plant on top of the process buildings together with post project completion 5 years operation and maintenance service contract for the SWRO plant and the onsite power plant (with built-in option to extend the period to 10 years). This contract will be referred to as Lot 1 of the Gaza Central Desalination Program (GCDP).
Lot 2 of the GCDP will be tendered at a later stage and concerns an off-site PV plant, and 2 wind turbines.