Oman: Meeting water demand

The utilities sector is turning to private and foreign investors to help spur the growth needed to meet local demand. The construction of 16 power and water projects worth $3.1bn is slated to increase water desalination capacity in the country, as well as improve wastewater treatment and conservation awareness.

According to the latest seven-year statement of the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), published in 2006, the total demand for desalinated water in the regions covered by the main interconnected system is increasing by approximately 12.5% per year, from around 86m cu metres per year in 2006 to a projected 197m cu metres in 2013. Peak daily demands are projected to reach 472,000 cu metres per day in the Muscat zone, 160,000 cu metres per day in the Sohar zone and 70,000 cu metres per day in the Sharqiya zone.

The government has recognised the need to increase local desalination capacity to meet domestic water needs, and plans for a number of new projects and expansions are already in the works.

For example, the race for a contract to build a $400m independent water desalination plant at Ghubrah, in the Muscat Governorate, has been narrowed down to five bidders. The first call for tenders for the project was put out in September 2011, with OPWP overseeing procurement on behalf of the Public Authority for Electricity and Water. The facility is expected to produce 191,000 cu metres of desalinated water per day.

The five companies left in the running, having passed through the prequalification stage, are the Japan-based Marubeni Corporation; Singapore-based integrated water and environmental solutions provider Hyflux; Acciona Agua, a Spanish firm specialising in potable water and wastewater utility; Malakoff International, a subsidiary of the Malakoff Corporation, the largest independent water and power producer in Malaysia; and Spanish water utility firm Grupo Cobra. All five firms have submitted plans for the construction and development of the Ghubrah facility, and the winning bid is expected to be announced in the fourth quarter of 2012.

In an additional boost to local water production, ACWA Power Barka, the first privately funded water project in the country, was given government approval in mid-July to increase its desalination capacity by 45,000 cu metres per day. Run by Saudi Arabia-based ACWA Power International, the facility was awarded permission to expand by the OPWP.

For more on this:

http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/economic_updates/oman-meeting-water-demand

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