30 March 2011
MUSCAT -- Well-known professional services firm KPMG is understood to have been selected by the government to provide advisory services linked to the development of a major Independent Water Project (IWP) at Ghubrah in Muscat Governorate.
Conceived on the lines of the Sultanate's first IWP at Sur, which was successfully concluded in 2007, the Ghubrah IWP will be developed, owned, financed and operated by the private sector. It will be sized to meet demand for new water desalination capacity in the Muscat region estimated at 42 million imperial gallons per day (MIGD), equivalent to 191,000 cubic metres per day.
The state-owned Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), which has the mandate under the Sector Law to procure all new power and related water capacity on a competitive basis, will oversee the procurement of the Ghubrah IWP on behalf of the Public Authority for Electricity and Water (PAEW).
The new IWP is proposed to be established on the site of the existing Al Ghubrah Power Generation and Water Desalination Plant in Muscat Governorate. The latter facility, built in phases over many years, is itself planned to be decommissioned in line with OPWP's seven-year planning process, as well as for environmental considerations.
KPMG's brief is to define the project, assign the risk profile and develop the competition process, as well as manage the tendering process through to the execution of the project documents. The consultant will also undertake, among other things, a feasibility review, site studies, and preliminary environmental impact assessment.
Development of the IWP will be accelerated with a view to ensuring that potable water from the plant becomes available by the year 2013. To meet this target, as well as to ensure continuity of water supply from the Ghubrah site, the project will be implemented in phases. Phase 1, with a capacity of 30 MIGD, is proposed to come into operation by May 2013, with the balance capacity of 12 MIGD, targeted to be operationalised in Phase 2 by April 2014. Water from the Ghubrah IWP will be purchased by OPWP under a long-term Water Purchase Agreement.
According to OPWP, the actual capacity of the IWP and technology of its RO units will be allowed to vary within reason to ensure "unconstrained competition". The range of capacities of the plant and the limitations in respect of technology will be determined initially on the basis of advice provided by the project's advisers.
Significantly, the new IWP has been sized not only to cater to projected growth in the potable water needs of the Muscat region, but also contribute to the government's goal of minimising groundwater pumping.
Demand for desalinated water is projected to more than double over 2010-2016 timeframe, according to a study by OPWP. The projections, based on a seven-year demand outlook, envisage a hefty 13 per cent rise in annual average consumption growth over this period. By 2016, demand is projected to reach 563,000 m3 per day in the Muscat Zone (an area served by the Al Ghubrah and Barka water supply networks.
To help tide over supply shortfalls before the new capacity at Ghubrah comes on stream, the PAEW earlier this year brought into operation a mobile desalination plant with a capacity to produce 22.7 million litres (roughly five million gallons) of desalinated water per day.
The facility -- billed as the largest of its kind in the world -- supplements supplies from the existing desalination plant of Al Ghubrah Power Generation and Water Desalination Company.
The mobile plant's modular format allows it to be broken up into smaller units which can be deployed elsewhere along Oman's coast to generate desalinated water for the benefit of coastal communities.
MUSCAT -- Well-known professional services firm KPMG is understood to have been selected by the government to provide advisory services linked to the development of a major Independent Water Project (IWP) at Ghubrah in Muscat Governorate.
Conceived on the lines of the Sultanate's first IWP at Sur, which was successfully concluded in 2007, the Ghubrah IWP will be developed, owned, financed and operated by the private sector. It will be sized to meet demand for new water desalination capacity in the Muscat region estimated at 42 million imperial gallons per day (MIGD), equivalent to 191,000 cubic metres per day.
The state-owned Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), which has the mandate under the Sector Law to procure all new power and related water capacity on a competitive basis, will oversee the procurement of the Ghubrah IWP on behalf of the Public Authority for Electricity and Water (PAEW).
The new IWP is proposed to be established on the site of the existing Al Ghubrah Power Generation and Water Desalination Plant in Muscat Governorate. The latter facility, built in phases over many years, is itself planned to be decommissioned in line with OPWP's seven-year planning process, as well as for environmental considerations.
KPMG's brief is to define the project, assign the risk profile and develop the competition process, as well as manage the tendering process through to the execution of the project documents. The consultant will also undertake, among other things, a feasibility review, site studies, and preliminary environmental impact assessment.
Development of the IWP will be accelerated with a view to ensuring that potable water from the plant becomes available by the year 2013. To meet this target, as well as to ensure continuity of water supply from the Ghubrah site, the project will be implemented in phases. Phase 1, with a capacity of 30 MIGD, is proposed to come into operation by May 2013, with the balance capacity of 12 MIGD, targeted to be operationalised in Phase 2 by April 2014. Water from the Ghubrah IWP will be purchased by OPWP under a long-term Water Purchase Agreement.
According to OPWP, the actual capacity of the IWP and technology of its RO units will be allowed to vary within reason to ensure "unconstrained competition". The range of capacities of the plant and the limitations in respect of technology will be determined initially on the basis of advice provided by the project's advisers.
Significantly, the new IWP has been sized not only to cater to projected growth in the potable water needs of the Muscat region, but also contribute to the government's goal of minimising groundwater pumping.
Demand for desalinated water is projected to more than double over 2010-2016 timeframe, according to a study by OPWP. The projections, based on a seven-year demand outlook, envisage a hefty 13 per cent rise in annual average consumption growth over this period. By 2016, demand is projected to reach 563,000 m3 per day in the Muscat Zone (an area served by the Al Ghubrah and Barka water supply networks.
To help tide over supply shortfalls before the new capacity at Ghubrah comes on stream, the PAEW earlier this year brought into operation a mobile desalination plant with a capacity to produce 22.7 million litres (roughly five million gallons) of desalinated water per day.
The facility -- billed as the largest of its kind in the world -- supplements supplies from the existing desalination plant of Al Ghubrah Power Generation and Water Desalination Company.
The mobile plant's modular format allows it to be broken up into smaller units which can be deployed elsewhere along Oman's coast to generate desalinated water for the benefit of coastal communities.
© Oman Daily Observer 2011
