The local Majis Industrial Services Company (MISC) has invites contractors to submit bids for the contract to build a reverse osmosis (RO) plant and a water processing facility at the Sohar Industrial Port area in northern Oman.

Contractors have until 2 July to submit bids for the contract. The RO plant and water production facility is being tendered as a build-own-operate contract.

MISC is a joint stock company, fully owned by the Oman government.

The water plant is the latest of several industrial plants planned for Sohar, as the government seeks to expand the port’s industrial capacity. In March, Brazilian mining company Vale opened its $1.36bn iron ore pelletising plant and distribution centre at the Sohar port.

The pelletising plant consists of two 4.5 million tonnes a year (t/y) units, the first of which went on stream in April 2011. The plant can now ramp up to its full 9 million-t/y capacity.

The Sohar distribution centre will be able to handle up to 40 milllion t/y of iron ore pellets, using the 1.4km deepwater terminal built in a joint venture between Vale and Sohar Industrial Port Company.