The Barka 5 and Ghubrah 3 plants will help the sultanate reach its goals of sustainable development.
Webuild, GS Inima to build mega desal plants
01 December 2020
Fisia Italimpianti, a unit of the Webuild Group (formerly Salini Impregilo Group), has won engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts worth a combined total of about $330 million for two desalination plants in Oman.
Located on the coast in the Gulf of Oman north of Muscat, these plants will serve residents living near the capital.
The contracts, commissioned by the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), will have Fisia Italimpianti and its joint-venture partner GS Inima Environment build plants that use the reverse osmosis process to desalinate water from the sea.
The first, Ghubrah 3 IWP, will have a production capacity of 300,000 cu m of water per day, while the second, Barka 5 IWP, will produce 100,000 cu m per day.
Both projects are expected to take three years to complete, with Ghubrah becoming the biggest in the sultanate. Fisia Italimpianti has a 50 per cent stake in both joint ventures.
The Barka 5 and Ghubrah 3 plants will increase the group’s presence in Oman as it helps the sultanate reach its goals of sustainable development and confronting the challenge of water scarcity posed by a desert climate.
Fisia Italimpianti entered Oman in 2017 with the Salalah project, a desalination plant that also uses the reverse osmosis process to produce 113,500 cu m a day of potable water for the city of the same name on the southwestern coast. Its construction is to be completed soon.
Its desalination and water treatment plants serve more than 20 million people throughout the world, including the GCC, Egypt, Turkey and some countries in South America, where it plans to expand.
GS Inima said it will be carrying out both the projects on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis. As per the agreement, GS Inima will be in charge of financing, construction and operation of these projects for 20 years.
The company is expected to break ground for the Ghubrah project in the second quarter of 2021 for completion 34 months later. It aims to start its commercial operations in Q2 2024.
- GE wins substations maintenance deal
- Duqm Refinery project nearly 72pc completed
- Prudential opens Juffair Square in Bahrain
- Everplas embarks on expansion drive
- OETC awards contracts for grid connection
- EBS boosts presence in Oman with big wins
- Webuild, GS Inima to build mega desal plants
- Khazaen Phase One infrastructure nearly ready
