Power companies from across the globe are competing for an engineering, procurement and construction contract to build a large independent water and power project (IWPP) in Salalah, in the Dhofar region of Oman.
Bidders for the IWPP, which is projected to have a capacity of 400 MW and 15 million gallons of water per day, include Japan’s Marubeni Corporation, the UK’s International Power (in association with Gulf Investment Corporation) and Oman’s Galfar Engineering & Contracting. Other interested parties are from the United States, Korea and Hong Kong.
The Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (PWP), which is overseeing the project, has identified a need for increased power generation and water desalination capacities in the Dhofar region, due to the development of the new Salalah Free Zone. Power demand in the region has increased from 130 MW in 1999 to approximately 230 MW in 2006.
The new IWPP, which is to be carried out on a build, own and operate (BOO) basis, will have a generation capacity of 250 MW at the first phase, due to be completed in 2009. This will subsequently be raised to 400 MW by 2013.
Ahmed Al-Busaidi, project manager at Oman PWP, confirmed that 19 bids had been received and said the prequalified bidders would be announced in the next one to two months.
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