Six firms vying for building water project in Khasab

Muscat: As many as six firms have been pre-qualified for developing an Independent Water Project (IWP) in Khasab, with a desalination capacity of 16,000 cubic metres per day.
The consortiums that have pre-qualified to submit bids for building the project are the ACWA Emirates-Sogex Oman consortium, Utico, the Seven Seas-Aqua Venture Holdings consortium, Veolia Middle East, GS Inima and Tedagua.
The companies were pre-qualified after Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) floated a request for a qualification tender for developing the desalination project. The winning company will develop it as a private sector project, in close coordination with OPWP. According to an earlier report, the Khasab project, which is expected to be completed by late 2019, will cater to growing demand for water in the Musandam governorate.
Apart from Khasab, the Sultanate is also developing independent water projects in Salalah, Shaqiyah and Duqm, which will together add 52.8 million imperial gallons per day (MIGD) of new capacity for the country’s rapidly expanding domestic water generation capacity. Demand for potable water in Oman’s northern region, which includes the Muscat governorate, is projected to grow by 6 per cent per annum in the next five years, from 238 million cubic metres in 2013 to 349 million cubic metres by 2020.
A combination of population growth and industrial development is being cited as a major reason for growth in the demand for potable water.