Repackaged tenders to be issued for Muscat wastewater project

03 April 2008
Tenders for work on the $1bn Muscat Wastewater Project are due to be issued by the end of April following the decision by Oman Wastewater Services Company (OWSC) to re-package the second phase of work.

Work on the project's Bausher section, which lies between the airport and Hamriyah, will now be split into four packages.

China’s Sinohydro Corporation, which won the original contract to build the 700-kilometre wastewater collection network has had its scope halved, with the remaining three packages valued at approximately OR130m ($388m).

The contract was due to be completed by the end of 2007, however, spiralling material costs, regulatory complications and the impact of Cyclone Gonu has hampered progress.

“We split the work into packages because we realised they would never be able to complete it,” said a source at OWSC.

The source added that, following Cyclone Gonu, which hit the sultanate’s coast in June 2007, Sinohydro terminated the contract citing force majeure and made a OR25m ($65m) claim against OWSC for delays it had experienced. The company was awarded OR11m.

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