Seven multinational company-led consortiums have pitched for the Oman’s largest independent water desalination project. The 330 Ml/d scheme will include two sites at Barka and Sohar on Oman’s Batinah coast.
The sultanate’s sole procurer of new power generation and water desalination capacity, Oman Power and Water Procurement Company’s (OPWP), has revealed in its tender notification that the consortiums bidding for the contract are those led by: Abengoa Water, Itochu Corporation, JGC, GS Inima Environment, Veolia Middle East, Valoriza Agua and Hyflux.
The schemes at Barka and Sohar are scheduled for commercial operation by April 2018. The Barka plant has a planned desalination capacity of 281Ml/d while the Sohar project, meanwhile, will produce potable water at 250 Ml/d of water.
The seven companies leading the consortiums have teamed up with 13 local firms in submitting their bids. The consortia include:
Abengoa, National Power and Water Company and Muscat Overseas;
GS Inima and GS Engineering & Construction;
Acciona Aqua and Oman Investment Corporation;
Veolia, Marubeni Corporation and Nippon Koei;
Valoriza, Oman Brunei Investment Company and Sogex Oman;
JGC Corporation, Sijitz Corporation, Citic Construction and Al Sulami Group; and
Itochu Corporation, Degremont, International Power and W J Towell.
Hyflux, which is developing the Quriyyat desalination project, is bidding on its own. GDF Suez, which was pre-qualified for the project, did not submit a bid for the project. OPWP has forecast demand for potable water in Oman’s northern region to grow by 6% a year between 2013 and 2020 to 349 million cubic metres. Last year’s seven-year outlook had annual growth at 3-5%.
OPWP said the increase was fuelled by population growth and industrial expansion, including a major contribution from tourism. The government recently invited bids to build temporary desalination plants to meet the demand until the major projects come on stream. Bidders included Aflaj Al Khaleej Trading and Contracting, Ismoflow, Seven Seas, House of Trading and Services and Advanced Oilfield Technology.