Sumitomo of Japan Wins Order to Build Desalination Plant in Oman

Sumitomo of Japan has won an order from the state-owned Oman Power and Water Procurement Co. to build a desalination plant in Oman with Malakoff Corp. Berhad of Malaysia and Cadagua SA of Spain.

The plant, scheduled to start operations in September 2014, will supply water for daily use equivalent to the amount consumed by about 800,000 people, the Japanese trading company said in a statement today.

The project is expected to cost as much as 30 billion yen ($377 million) and is planned to be funded by Japanese financial institutions through project financing, it said.

Sumitomo and Malakoff, an independent water and power producer, will each have a 45 percent stake in the project company, according to the statement. Cadagua will build the plant with VA Tech Wabag Ltd. (VATW), an India-based water engineering company in which Sumitomo has a stake, it said.

At 40 million imperial gallons per day or 180,000 cubic meters per day of desalination capacity, the Qurayat IWP is characterised as a large sized reverse osmosis plant roughly equivalent in capacity to the soon-to be awarded Ghubrah IWP which is sized at 42 MIGD.??

Site identification studies commissioned by OPWP have pinpointed potential locations south of Qurayat town, away from areas earmarked for tourist projects in the area. When operational in the second quarter of 2016, it will allow for potable water to be pumped to Muscat for the first time from the eastern side into the water grid as opposed to the current practice of drawing water into the grid primarily from desalination plants in Barka and Sohar.

The plant will help meet a projected shortfall in desalination capacity of around 89 MIGD by 2018 within the Interconnected Zone, according to OPWP. Aggregate water demand across Oman is projected to increase by 5% from 196 million m3 in 2011 to 269 million cubic meter in 2018. The plant will be brought into operation in April 2016.