Cape Town seeks private partner for R2.83 billion Faure water-reuse scheme

The City of Cape Town has opened a two-stage competitive procurement to appoint a private-sector partner to finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the Faure New Water Scheme (FNWS). The project is a water-reuse scheme to be delivered as a public-private partnership (PPP), which the City council approved in principle in December 2025. The scheme will use advanced treatment technology to purify treated wastewater from the upgraded Zandvliet Wastewater Treatment Works into drinking water meeting South African and international quality standards. Once operational, it is expected to add about 70 to 100 million litres of drinking water per day. It is one of several projects meant to add 300 million litres per day from new sources by the mid-2030s. No lots are mentioned.

The PPP will not involve selling the City's water assets. Private operators will not be allowed to set water tariffs or run water services independently. The source is a news article, and its headline describes the scheme as worth R2.83bn. It does not state a contract value, contract duration, options or a breakdown of the private partner's financing role.

The tender was published on 25 September 2026. The first stage is a Request for Qualification (RFQ). It is open to suitably qualified consortia, investors, contractors, operators and technology providers with relevant experience, and it assesses their technical, financial and operational capability to deliver the project. Submissions are due by 26 February 2027. Respondents that meet the RFQ requirements will be invited to the Request for Proposals (RFP) stage, scheduled for the second half of 2027. The City encourages local and international participants with experience in large-scale water, infrastructure and PPP projects to take part.

This summary is based only on a press article. The RFQ documentation itself was not provided, so the detailed qualification criteria, evidence requirements, thresholds, submission portal, bid language and Q&A deadlines are not available here. The award criteria for the later RFP stage have not been published in this source.