Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) is likely to issue a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the development of a new independent water project (IWP) in Dhofar in the fourth quarter of this year, a report said.

The new water scheme in Oman is tentatively sized in the range of 80,000 to 100,000 cu m per day (18–22 million gallons per day - mgpd) of capacity, the Oman Observer report added.

Two sites are currently being evaluated, the report added. A site at Raysut and the other adjacent to Sembcorp Salalah’s Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP) near Taqah are being considered for the establishment of the new water project.

A third water desalination plant may also be required around 2022, depending upon demand growth and the ultimate capacity of the new Dhofar IWP, said OPWP in a statement.

Procurement activities for the third water scheme targeted for commercial launch in 2022 will begin around 2017, the state-run utility announced in its recently published Seven-Year Outlook Statement covering the 2015-2021 timeframe.  This proposed plant could be potentially bundled with power generation capacity depending upon electricity demand growth, it noted.

OPWP is also considering an option to add desalination capacity at Sembcorp Salalah’s Taqah IWPP.

“It appears that, through modifications to existing equipment and adaptations to meet Oman’s recently revised water quality specifications, (Sembcorp’s) Salalah IWPP may be able to provide additional capacity of 2.3 mgpd in a relatively short period. Considering the current need for additional capacity, if this project proves to be technically feasible, economical and timely, OPWP may contract for the capacity accordingly, in which case the capacity requirement for the new IWP may be somewhat reduced,” it stated.