Bahrain’s Electricity & Water Authority has relaunched procurement for key marine infrastructure tied to a planned seawater reverse osmosis desalination facility on Hawar Island. The retender covers the intake and outfall elements needed to support the plant, which is being developed to strengthen potable water supply for the remote island group. The package forms one part of a wider programme that also includes the main desalination plant and associated water storage and pumping facilities. The move follows an earlier tender round that drew limited competition, prompting the authority to return the works to the market.
Marine works back in the market
The contract involves building a seawater intake system designed for 1,515 cubic metres an hour, along with an outfall structure equipped with a diffuser system. Companies have been given until 21 October to submit offers for the package.
The previous tender attracted two bids, from UAE-based Noble Development and Bahrain’s Al-Hassanain Company, with offers opened in December 2025. The new round is expected to draw interest from those firms as well as HR Wallingford, Bahrain Mechanical & Diving Services and Ocean Diving & Marine Services.
Linked desalination packages
The marine contract is connected to the main Hawar desalination plant, for which Malaysia’s Sparco Engineering recently secured the engineering, procurement and construction contract after submitting the lowest offer in an earlier competition.
The desalination facility is planned to produce 1 million imperial gallons a day of drinking water. Sparco is expected to coordinate its design and delivery with the related marine and storage packages so the separate components operate as a single system.
Storage and pumping scope
A third package associated with the scheme was tendered in November and covers two steel ground storage tanks, each with capacity of 1 million gallons, in addition to pumping stations, motors, pipelines and related infrastructure.
Greece-based Ergotem submitted the lowest bid for that package at $1.92m. By August, the contract had still not been awarded.
Water supply for Hawar Islands
The Hawar Islands comprise 16 desert islands and islets located about 26 kilometres southeast of Ras Al-Bar in Bahrain. The desalination project is intended to meet local water requirements and support future development needs across the archipelago.
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