Plans unveiled for major water project in Muscat-Barka area

Muscat: With the Sultanate’s demand for water growing at 6 per cent per annum, a proposal has been announced for building another major independent water project in Muscat governorate.
Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), the country’s sole procurer of new electricity generation and water desalination capacity, on Sunday floated a tender seeking bids from consultancy firms to provide financial and commercial advisory services for tendering to build additional water desalination capacity, in the range of 225,000 to 325,000 cubic meters per day (50-72 million imperial gallons per day), to serve residents ofthe Muscat-Barka area in 2021.
“This procurement will be carried out using the current established procurement process and contract structure,” OPWP stated in its tender announcement. The tender documents are available from June 7 to 16, while the last date for submitting bids for commercial and financial advisory services is July 17. Also, in an attempt to enhance water supply contingencies in an effective manner, OPWP is considering procurement of barge-mounted desalination for temporary deployment along the coast, which is called ‘Rapid Deployment Seawater Desalination Facility.’Further, the agency is looking at the possibility of portable land-based plants for assuring a temporary supply of water, and a tender for an expression of interest was floated last week.
Meanwhile, Yaqoob bin Saif Al Kiyumi, the chief operating officer of OPWP, said in April that the proposed water project in Muscat seeks to meet the demand for potable water, which is growing at 6 per cent per annum.
Additionally, Oman plans to build two independent water projects in Duqm and Khasab,as well,to meet the growing demand for potable water in the interior regions. The early workon these projects has already been started, which is part of a series of small and large water projects planned in different parts of the country.
The proposed Duqm desalination project will have a capacity to produce 60,000 cubic meters of water per day and a request for a proposal will be issued this year. The project, which is planned within the special economic zone in Duqm, is expected to start operations in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to the annual report of the OPWP. Likewise, the Khasab independent water project, with an envisaged capacity of 16,000 cubic meters per day using reverse osmosis technology, is expected to begin operating during the fourth quarter of 2019.
Request for proposals to develop two other projects in Salalah and Sharqiya have already been floated, after completing a pre-qualification process. These two projects, which are expected to begin operating in 2019, will be awarded by the end of 2016.