A joint venture of the local Hasan Juma Backer Trading & Contracting Company and India’s Tatva Global Environment has been awarded an estimated $20m contract to build the Integrated Waste Treatment Storage and Disposal facility in the Duqm Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

The Special Economic Zone Authority of Duqm (Sezad), which oversees the development of the Duqm economic zone, oversaw the tendering process on behalf of the Oman Environmental Services holding Company, which is the government body in charge of managing the solid waste sector.

The local/Indian joint venture will design and build a landfill site covering a total area of 80,000 square metres, which will be used for municipal waste. The group will also build an industrial landfill site to process some of the more dangerous waste that will be produced by industries based in the Duqm development.

In addition to waste disposal, several other utilities schemes are planned at the Duqm zone to provide power and desalinated water for the industries setting up in the economic area.

In May, the Centralised Utilities Company (CUC) invited contractors to submit prequalification entries for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a combined power and water desalination plant

The planned power plant will have a power capacity of 300-400MW and a reverse osmosis component of 6.5-8.5 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD). The power and desalination facility will provide electricity and water for the Oman Oil Company (OOC) and its affiliated companies.

The client is targeting full commercial operation of the plant by the fourth quarter of 2018.

In its latest seven-year report, Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) stated it had been considering developing an independent power project (IPP) in Duqm, but had dropped plans for the near future due to the Gas Ministry having notified the utility that there was not sufficient gas supply for the project.

OPWP expects peak electricity demand in the Duqm area to grow at 19 per cent a year, driven by the residential and commercial developments associated with Duqm SEZ. This would bring demand from 19MW in 2014 to 65MW in 2021, excluding Duqm SEZ.

Current demand is met by a 67MW diesel-fired power plant owned and operated by the Rural Areas Electricity Company