A total of seven global technology groups have submitted their bids to develop two major independent water projects (IWPs) worth about $1 billion in Oman, a report said.

The Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) is overseeing the competitive process leading to the award of licences for the projects at Sohar and Barka, added the Oman Observer report, citing OPWP.

The consortiums are led by Abengoa Water (along with National Power & Water Company and Muscat Overseas), GS Inima Environment (with GS Engineering & Construction, Acciona Aqua, and Oman Investment Corporation),  Itochu Corporation (with Degremont, International Power — Dubai Branch, and W J Towell & Company), JGC Corporation (with Sojitz Corporation), Valoriza Agua (with Oman Brunei Investment Company and Sogex Oman), Veolia Middle East (with Marubeni Corporation and Nippon Koei), and Hyflux, which has bid on its own.

Technical offers from the consortiums are currently being evaluated. Bidders who make the cut in the technical evaluation will have their financial bids assessed as well. Those on the shortlist will then be invited for one-on-one negotiations with OPWP leading to the selection of the successful bidders.

The Barka IWP, with a contracted desalination capacity of 281,000 cu m per day (61.8 million gallons per day, MGD), while the Sohar IWP will have a capacity of 250,000 cu m per day (55.0 MGD) of desalination capacity, the report said.

The new IWPs are slated for commercial operation by April 2018.