Ten major contracting firms are in the race to win a major engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a seawater project in the Duqm region of Oman, said a report.

Those who have prequalified for submitting the bids include Hani Archirodon, Larsen and Toubro-Samsung-L&T Oman consortium, China Harbour Engineering Company, Hyundai-Galfar consortium, CCC Oman, STFA Insaat, TechnicasReunidas-Six Construct consortium, CMR Marine Trading AS Murray, Posco Engineering and Vinci Construction-Sarooj joint venture.

As per the contract, the bid winner will develop a seawater intake system for Duqm Special Economic Zone Authority (Sezad), according to the Times of Oman.

The project will also include marine intake structure, seawater pumping station, seawater supply, return channels and beach well system, it stated.

The contractors will carry out detailed design, which will be based on a front-end engineering design (Feed) provided by the owner.

The work will start by the year-end, with the handover scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2017, it stated.

Once completed, the facilities will supply seawater for cooling industrial plants in Oman’s Duqm area. It will also provide seawater to all industrial projects within the industrial zone, including the proposed Duqm Refinery, which is coming up adjacent to the Duqm port.