Saudi’s Water & Electricity Company (WEC) has issued a request for qualification (RFQ) that calls for technical consultants to undertake a pre-feasibility study for small-scale sewage treatment plants (STPs). The RFQ also outlines the study of specialised treatment technology for use in the STPs.

According to a statement, the technical consultant that wins the contract will also be required to support the WEC in privatising small-scale STP projects. The STPs have capacities ranging from 1,000cu/m per day to 25,000cu/m per day and are spread across the Kingdom.

The utility company said the scope of work includes GIS analysis and the preparation of a pre-feasibility study based on site visits. Additionally, the consultants will have to support the WEC in co-ordination with relevant water sector stakeholders in Saudi Arabia and local as well as international developers.

The study is also expected to cover treatment technology for treated sewage effluent (TSE) reuse for the initial STPs and future expansion. According to WEC, the study may also be used to ensure compliance with standard international public-private partnership (PPP) requirements and procedures, as well as those prescribed by the National Centre for Privatisation in Saudi Arabia.