Oman Power & Water Procurement Company (OPWP) has invited developers to prequalify for tenders for two desalination projects.

The desalination plants will be located in the Barka and North Batinah areas, which will have capacities of 100,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) and 150,000 cm/d respectively. Developers have until 16 September to submit prequalification entries for the plants.

MEED reported in March that OPWP was planning a Barka 5 plant as part of its programme to keep up with rising demand for water.

In April, OPWP signed the main development contracts with a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power for the RO60m ($156m) Salalah IWP.

MEED reported in December that the Acwa Power consortium, which also contains France’s Veolia and the local Dhofar International Development & investment Company, had been selected to develop the 25 million imperial gallons a day (94,000 cm/d) desalination plant in the southern area of the sultanate.

Under the terms of the water purchase agreement (WPA), the consortium will develop the plant and sell water to OPWP under a build-own-operate (BOO) framework. The plant is scheduled for operation by 2020.

Dhofar Desalination Company, formed to develop and operate the Salalah plant, has awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to a consortium of Italy’s Fisia Italimpianti and Spain’s Abengoa.