Oman Power & Water Procurement Company (OPWP) plans to invite advisers to bid for a contract to work on its next independent water project (IWP) in October. The Quriyat IWP will have a capacity of 40 million gallons per day.

Another IWP is planned to follow the Quriyat project. Suwayq IWP will also have a capacity of 40 million gallons per day. OPWP is currently tendering an IWP at Ghubrah. Five financial bids were submitted in July.

Demand for water in the sultanate has increased at a faster pace than anticipated over the past year prompting a revision in Oman’s capacity-building plans and bring the projects forward.

OPWP expects water demand in the main interconnected system (MIS) to grow from around 163 million cubic metres in 2010 to 278 million cubic metres by 2017. In the Salalah system, OPWP expects water demand to increase from around 29.9 million cubic metres in 2010 to 50.9 million cubic metres in 2017, representing an average growth rate of 8 per cent.