September 03, 2012
Muscat: Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) and ACWA Power Barka announced on August 29, the signing of a Water Purchase Agreement (WPA) and other project agreements for the expansion of its existing water desalination capacity by 10 million gallons per day.
The project agreements were signed by the Chairman of OPWP, Saud Bin Nasser Al Shukaily, and the Chief Executive Officer, Nadeem Rizvi, of ACWA Power Barka. A usufruct agreement for the use of the project land will be signed between ACWA Power Barka and Ministry of Housing. The Water Connection Agreement will be signed between ACWA Power Barka and the Public Authority for Electricity and Water.
The expansion project is an Independent Water Project (IWP) to be developed on a BOO (build, own, operate) basis and will be located at Barka, 65-km north of Muscat, the capital of the Sultanate of Oman.
The expansion project will be constructed adjacent to ACWA Power Barka's existing plant and will benefit from its synergies. The additional water capacity produced by the expansion project will help in meeting the projected shortfall in the Sultanate of Oman's water desalination production capacity and the demand for potable water which increases by 8.0 per cent per annum.
During their ordinary general meeting held on August 26, 2012, the shareholders of ACWA Power Barka approved the company entering into the project agreements required for the expansion project, obtaining a loan to finance the expansion project and entering into a supplemental O&M agreement with a related party to operate and maintain the Expansion Project.
The term of the WPA will effectively expire with the existing Power and Water Purchase Agreement (PWPA). The expansion project will be funded by a syndicated loan from local and regional financial institutions. Construction of the expansion project will commence before the end of third quarter of 2012.
ACWA Power Barka is targeting to complete this expansion project and start water production in fourth quarter of 2013. Nomac Oman, a subsidiary of ACWA Power International, which is also the parent company of ACWA Power Barka, is intended to be the O&M provider for the expansion project and is the current O&M provider for the existing ACWA Power Barka plant. The expansion project will be built according to Omani Environmental Regulations.
Saud bin Nasser Al Shukaily, the Chairman of the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company, stated that this project is a fast track project requested by the Public Authority for Electricity and Water in order to meet the expected shortfall in desalinated water particularly during the next two years.
The project is one of its kind in the sense that the returned seawater from the existing plant will be utilised as feed water to the Reverse Osmosis expansion project.
© Times of Oman 2012
