Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), the sole procurer of new power and water capacity under the Sector Law, has launched the competitive process for the implementation of the Sultanate’s largest Independent Water Project (IWP), a 300,000 cubic metres per day (equivalent to 66 million imperial gallons per day MIGD) water desalination scheme due to come up at Al Ghubra in Muscat Governorate. The state-owned power procurer is set to issue a Request for Qualification (RfQ), marking the first step in the procurement of the greenfield water scheme. Interested international developers have until March 18, 2018 to prequalify to participate in the competitive tender.
Dubbed ‘Ghubrah III IWP’, the new water scheme will come alongside Ghubrah II IWP — the 191,000 m3/d (42 MIGD) water desalination plant of Muscat City Desalination Company, which came into operation last year. An older water scheme located at the same site, owned and operated by Ghubrah Power and Desalination Company, is due to be decommissioned later this upon the expiry of its Water Purchase Agreement with OPWP. All five water units with a current capacity of 140,000 m3/day (31 MIGD) but based on old-style Multi-Stage Flash (MSF) technology, will be pulled out of service when the company’s water supply agreement with the government comes to an end in September this year.
Ghubrah III IWP, which will be fully operational by 2022, will help augment desalination capacity in a region that continues to witness strong water demand growth estimated at 5 per cent annually. Water demand in the Main Interconnected Zone — encompassing the governorates of Muscat, Al Batinah North, Al Batinah South, Buraimi, Al Dakhiliyah, and Al Dhahirah — is projected to increase from 746,000 m3/d in 2016 to around 1.065 million m3/d in 2023. In the Sharqiyah Zone, water demand is expected to increase at the rate of 7 per cent, from 93,000 m3/d in 2016 to 115,000 m3/d in 2023.
In the interim, burgeoning water demand in the Interconnected Zone will be met by two major Independent Water Projects (IWP) currently nearing completion in Barka and Suhar on the Sultanate’s Batinah coast. Barka IV IWP, a 281,000 m3/day (62 MIGD) capacity plant under development by Barka Desalination Company, is set to be operational by the middle of this year. Sohar III IWP, on the other hand, a 250,000 m3/day (55 MIGD) plant being constructed by Myah Gulf Desalination Company, will commence commercial operations in the third quarter of this year. To cater to longer term water demand, OPWP is weighing plans to procure a new 200,000 m3/day (44 MIGD) capacity water scheme in North Al Batinah for launch in 2022.
Conrad Prabhu
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