New power and desalination project in N Oman
MUSCAT -- Bids were opened here yesterday for consultancy contracts linked to the development of a major Independent Power and Water Desalination projects (IWPP) in the north of the Sultanate. The greenfield project, which will be established in the Batinah region, will boast a power generation capacity of roughly 700MW alongside a desalination facility of around 130,000 cubic metres (m3) per day. The state-owned Oman Power and Water Procurement Company SAOC (OPWP) will oversee the development of the new IWPP.
Five firms have submitted bids for OPWP's contract to provide legal advisory services linked to the project. They are Berwin Leighton Paisner; Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle; Denton Wilde Sapte, DLA Piper, and Dr Tariq Al Busaidi Legal Consultancy Bureau. Five other companies BankMuscat, Ernst & Young, KPMG, HSBC, and The Financial Corporation Co SOAG are also in the race for a financial advisory services contract.
A further six consultancy firms have evinced interest in a separate contract to provide technical advisory services for the project. They are Mott MacDonald, Mahad Ghodss Consultants Engineering, Black & Veatch International, Electrowatt Engineering, Scott Wilson Kirpatrick, and National Engineering Office. The appointed consultants will advise the OPWP on the optimum size and financing aspects of the new project.
The OPWP, a wholly owned subsidiary of the stated-owned Electricity Holding Company, conceived the need for a new IWPP in line with its mandate under the Sector Law. The PWP is the sole purchaser of the entire output of power and water under the Sector Law, and is required to identify the need for new power generation capacity in Oman and to conduct competitions for the procurement of such new capacity, in conjunction with desalination capacity where appropriate.
The new IWPP will be developed on the lines of successful private-financed power and desalination projects either already operational or under development at Barka and Sohar. The successful bidder will win a 15-year concession to design, develop, finance and construct the project on a 'Build-Own-Operate' (BOO) basis. The project, which is scheduled to come on stream in the year 2011, is set to become the biggest green-field power and water desalination plant to be implemented in Oman to date.
The PWP has projected that the maximum power demand in the Main Interconnected System, covering the north part of Oman, is expected to grow from 2544 MW in 2006 to 4634 MW by 2013, an annual average increase of around 9 per cent or 300 MW per year. Overall demand for desalinated water is expected to increase from 86 million m3 in 2006 to 221 million m3 per year by 2013.
By Conrad Prabhu
© Oman Daily Observer 2007
