The Project Journey started in 1998 with the pre-qualification of consortia that include local and foreign investors, in addition to specialized contractors for building a wastewater treatment and reclamation plant under Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) scheme in line with the State of Kuwait Government's plan to target the effective participation of the private sector in building up the national economy, through the execution of infrastructure projects.

Such projects were previously restricted to the Governmental Sector. In addition, the Government plan targets the local Private Sector to participate in strategic projects and at the same time encourage foreign investors to participate in the development process. This has been achieved in Sulaibiya Plant Project.

In 1999, the Government of the State of Kuwait, represented by the Ministry of Finance, invited group that had previously been qualified to submit their offers as investors to build and operate this plant for a period of thirty years, after which its ownership would be transferred to the Government of the State of Kuwait, and each grouping included a foreign investor to benefit Kuwait in the field of technology transfer.