Oman Power & Water Company (OPWP) has received 15 statements of qualification (SOQs) from developers for an independent water project (IWP) at Al-Ghubrah.

The following companies submitted SOQs:

• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)
• Marubeni Corporation (Japan)
• Galfar Engineering & Contracting (Oman)
• Veolia (France)
• Degremont (France)
• Sumitomo Corporation (Japan)
• OHL (Spain)
• Sembcorp Utilities (Singapore)
• Septech (UAE)
• House of Trading and Services (Oman)
• Sogex Oman (Oman)
• Mohsin Haider Darwish (Oman)
• Hyflux (Singapore)
• JSC Hydroproject Institute (Russia)
• International Company for Water & Power Projects (Saudi Arabia)

The desalination project will have a capacity of 42 million gallons a day (g/d) of water. The reverse-osmosis plant will help the sultanate meet growing water demand requirements in the Muscat region.

The request for qualification was issued in September. According to OPWP’s schedule, bids are to be due by March 2012, with an award made in May 2012. Full commissioning is planned for April 2014 (MEED 12:9:11). The latest round of tender deadline extensions is likely to put pressure on the construction timetable.

OPWP is being advised by KPMG Oman and the UK’s SNR Denton, and Germany’s Fichtner on the project.

The project was originally to be developed as an independent water and power project (IWPP), but the power component of the project was dropped in June 2010 due to environmental concerns associated with the site.