Oman Power & Water Procurement Company (OPWP) has invited developers to express interest in the Duqm coal-fired independent water and power project by 10 December.

OPWP plans to launch the prequalification process in April 2010, with a request for proposals to follow in September. The company plans to make an award in August 2011.

The plant, which will be located 600 kilometres south of Muscat, will have more than 1,000MW of power capacity and OPWP has yet to decide on the desalination capacity.

The client will confirm the power and water capacities of the plant in the request for qualification and request for proposals. The Omani government will import the coal feedstock for the scheme from Indonesia and South Africa.

The plant will start producing power in April 2015 and will begin full commercial operations in January 2016.

KPMG and Australia’s Worley Parsons are the financial and technical advisers respectively. The UK’s Simmons & Simmons is the legal adviser.