Tender for building Duqm liquid terminal expected to be awarded soon

Muscat: A tender to build the proposed bulk liquid terminal at the Port of Duqm in Oman is expected to be awarded within a month.
The $1 billion project is a key component of the infrastructure being developed by the Oman government to support a major refinery, keeping pace with the growth of a liquids hub in the Duqm economic zone.
“More than two kilometres of the quay wall is for the liquid berth to serve the refinery. We expect that it (the tender) will be awarded in the coming one month or so. It is in the final stages,” said ReggyVermeulen, chief executive officer of the Port of Duqm.
He said work on the liquid berth will take two-and-a-half years to complete. “If the project is awarded in the first quarter of 2017, it will be completed by the end of 2019. Since the refinery will be fully dependent on the liquid berth, its construction has to be in line with the berth,” he added.
According to the website of the Special Economic Zone Authority of Duqm (Sezad), the nine prequalified firms to bid for the bulk liquid terminal’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract areBoskalis Westminster Middle East Oman, Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company, Van Oord Oman, Dredging International-BAM International BV Geosea joint venture, TecnicasReunidas, Consolidated Contractors Company Oman, China Harbour Engineering Company,Huta Marine Works, and Penta Ocean Construction Company.
However, it is not clear how many companies have submitted bids for developing the mega liquid terminal.
The winning EPC contractor will carry out dredging and reclamation, jetty structure and topside facilities including product storage tanks, dry bulk facilities, pipelines, buildings and roads.
The terminal will be the outgo port for the proposed Duqm refinery which will be built adjacent to the terminal and,accordingly, construction of the terminal will be schedule-driven.
Port contracts awarded
Vermeulen also said that most of the packages for completing Duqm port have already been awarded. These contracts include gates, superstructure, remaining work at terminals, buildings for the port and dredging works. “The contracting firms are already working on the ground. This shows that now we have a firm date, end of 2019, for completing the entire work for full-fledged operation (phase one) of the port,” noted Vermeulen.
The port will have 2.2 kilometres of commercial berth, 2.2 kilometres of container berth, one kilometre of government berth and a break bulk berth for miscellaneous cargoes.
Oman Drydock has 2.8 kilometres of berth for ship repair, which is already in operation.