The eight international companies bidding for Abu Dhabi's Shuweihat 1 power and desalination plant have been given another month to submit improved proposals. Three companies will be shortlisted by late March to be followed by the selection of the final developer.

There has been a change in the composition of the bidders since they first confirmed their interest in the project, according to a Gulf News report. While AES Corporation of the US is bidding alone, three other consortia are in the fray including PSEG Global and Japan's Marubeni Corporation, CMS Energy and the UK's National Power and Tractabel of Belgium with Japan's Mitsui and Company and Tokyo Electric Power Company, the report said. Earlier, two French majors, TotalFinaElf and Electricite de France (EDF) which had pre-qualified independently, were in the race as were some US firms, it said.

All the bidders are backed by banks. Once a selection is made, the banks are expected to arrange debt financing of some $1.3 billion over 15 years. The successful bidder will own 40 per cent of the project company and the rest will be held by a special-purpose holding firm to be formed by the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (Adwea).

Shuweihat is Abu Dhabi's third independent water and power project that will involve construction of a co-generation plant with 1,500 MWof power generating capacity and 100 million gallons per day water as well as associated infrastructure.