Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) is poised to issue a prequalification tender to build new water desalination plants across the sultanate.
The request for qualification (RFQ) tenders will include the proposed 88 Ml/d Salalah plant and the 70 Ml/d project at Sharqiyah.
OPWP has said it was looking to meet growing demand for water in different regions. “Depending on the progress of government approvals, additional projects may be included within the RFQ including Duqm independent water project)with water capacity up to 13.2 mgd (53 Ml/d)” said OPWP in a statement.
The Salalah plant is scheduled to start early in 2019 while the Sharqiyah project is slated to p begin production in the second quarter of 2020.
In the most recent forecast, annual demand for potable water in Oman’s northern region has been projected to grow by 6% a year from 2013 to reach to 349 million cubic metres in 2020.
In the previous seven-year forecast, average annual growth was 3-5%, according to POWP’s outlook for power and water demand. A combination of population growth and industrial development, including tourism projects, is cited as a major reason for the growth in demand for potable water. Water demand in Salalah is forecast to grow at 8% a year with peak water demand to increasing from 75,000 m³/d in 2013 to 132,000 m³/d by 2020.