Kuwait has postponed the advisory services tender issued earlier this month for Independent Water and Power Projects (IWPPs), the Kuwait Authority for Partnership (KAPP) announced on Twitter on Monday.

KAPP, which is in charge of joint public-private ventures, tweeted that "the announcement for tender No 1/2020-2020 of 2020-2021 published in the official gazette on March 15, 2020 for advisory services for the independent water and power producers in Kuwait is postponed until further notice," due to the government order "extending the cessation work in governmental entities" in Kuwait in the context of the prevailing situation.

Earlier this month, Kuwait had announced a nation-wide shutdown extending to several weeks to check the spread of novel coronavirus in the Gulf state, according to media reports.

Last week, Abu Dhabi announced that it has postponed 1.5-gigawatt Dhafra solar plant final bids announcement in light of rules barring large group meetings due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The tweet didn't disclose the names of the affected projects but according to Refinitiv Projects database, the most recent IWPPs announced by KAPP date back to July 2018. KAPP had invited Expressions of Interest for Az-Zour North 2 & 3 IWPP with a capacity of 2,700 megawatts (MW) of power and 165 750,105 cubic metres per day (m3/day) of desalinated water, and for Al Khairan 1, with a capacity of 1,800 MW of power and 568,261 m3/day of water.

In October 2019, London-based infrastructure projects data provider IJ Global had reported that KAPP cancelled the transaction advisory services tender for the two IWPPs despite having previously begun discussions with one of the bidding groups.

Prior to that in March, state news agency KUNA had announced that KAPP had prequalified three consortia, namely Ernst & Young, CMS and Mott McDonald; PwC, Fichtner and Ashurst, and SMSC Bank, Atkins and DLA Piper for the advisory services contract.

(Writing by Anoop Menon; Editing by Mily Chakrabarty)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. The content does not provide tax, legal or investment advice or opinion regarding the suitability, value or profitability of any particular security, portfolio or investment strategy. Read our full disclaimer policy here.

© Thomson Reuters Projects News 2020