Consortiums led by Spanish water services giant Valoriza Agua and Japanese conglomerate Itochu Corporation have been selected by the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) to develop two major independent water projects (IWPs) worth about $1 billion, a report said.

The selection of the duo as the preferred bidders paves the way for final negotiations leading to the awarding of separate licences for the development, design, construction, ownership, financing, operation and maintenance of the respective IPPs, reported the Oman Observer.

A total of seven global technology groups had submitted their bids for the IWPs which will come up at Sohar and Barka regions on Oman’s Batinah coast. Each of the independent projects will be built a cost of $550 million, said the report.

For the bidding, Madrid-based Valoriza Agua teamed up with Oman Brunei Investment Company and Sogex Oman, while Itochu joined forces with Degremont, International Power (Dubai Branch) and WJ Towell & Company.

Along with these two consortiums, five others - led by Abengoa, GS Inima, Hyflux, JGC and Veolia - had submitted their bids, it stated.

Tendered together, the two water projects represent the single largest procurement of water desalination capacity in Oman's history, said the report, citing OPWP officials.

The Barka IWP, with a contracted desalination capacity of 281,000 cu m per day, will be the larger of the two schemes. The Sohar IWP, on the other hand, will be sized at 250,000 cu m per day of desalination capacity.

Formal project agreements linked to either IPP are due to be inked shortly, the report added.