Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) plans to build a 22 million imperial gallons per day (100,000 cubic meters per day)-capacity seawater desalination project in Dhofar to meet growing demand for potable water.

The proposed project, which will be given to a private developer on a Build, Own, Operate (BOO) basis, is awaiting approval from the country’s Ministry of Finance (MoF).

OPWP, which oversees procurement of all new water and electricity capacity in the Sultanate, has already started an initiative to find a suitable site for the project, according to the seven-year outlook report released by the company.

The desalination project, called Salalah IV IWP, is expected to generate water in 2022, as the state-owned agency expects the need for a large-scale desalination plant for meeting the growing demand for water. The new project is required to meet an annual average growth of 9 per cent in potable water demand for the next seven years—from 42.6 million cubic meters in 2016 to 78.4 million cubic meters in 2023, noted the seven-year outlook report.

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