State-owned Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) has tendered for advisory services for its plans to up its water production capacity from 2022.
The Oman government is seeking economic, financial/commercial and legal advice on its planned revision for OPWP’s future contracting of water capacity and the initial implementation of a contracting round aimed at securing capacity from 2022 according to a report in regional newspaper, The Times of Oman.
The tender documents are available between until May 8, and bid submissions must be in by June 5.
Annual demand for potable water in Oman’s northern region, which include Muscat governorate, is projected to grow by 6% a year to 349,000 Ml in 2020, fuelled by population growth and industrial development including tourism.
The OPWP, the Oman’s sole procurer of new power and desalination capacity, recently signed an OMR100 million agreement with a consortium to establish Myah Gulf Oman Desalination Company to build a 250 Ml/d reverse osmosis plant in Sohar to meet about 80% of the potable water demand in Al Batinah North. The plant is scheduled t for competition in 2018 after which OPWP will buy its output under a 20-year concession.
According to the The Times of Oman, chief operating officer of OPWP , Eng Yaqoob bin Saif Al Kiyumi, said the company planned to build desalination facilities in the Muscat and Northern Batinah regions, each with a capacity greater than 250 ML/d.
And a 20 Ml/d facility – one of a series of small and large water projects – was planned for Khasab. OPWP has already selected pre-qualifying contractors and published a request for proposals for two projects at Salalah and Sharqiya. Al Kiyumi said both were scheduled for compilation in 2019.