Oman Power & Water Procurement Company (OPWP) has invited prequalified bidders to submit prices for the planned 22 million-imperial-gallon-a-day (MIGD) Salalah independent water project (IWP).

The project owner has set a submission date of 22 August for proposals.

The seven groups invited to participate in the tender are:

•  Acwa Power (Saudi Arabia) / Veolia (France) / Dhofar International Development & Investment Holding Company (local)
•  Degremont (France) / Itochu (Japan)
•  GS Inima Environment (South Korea)
•  Hyflux (Singapore)
•  JGC Corporation (Japan)
•  Marubeni Corporation (Japan)
•  Tecnicas de Desalinizacion de Agua (Spain)

OPWP has set a target date of 30 October for awarding the contract, with a target of 28 December for all of the required project documents to be signed.

The scheduled start date for commercial operation of the plant is 1 January 2019.

OPWP is also planning to tender the deals for a planned 17.6MIGD desalination plant at Sharqiyah and a smaller 13.2MIGD facility at Duqm, depending on government approvals.