Sogex Oman was recently awarded a five-year 137 million Emirati dirham ($37.2 million) contract for the operation and maintenance (O&M) and day-to-day management of the water desalination and power complex, developed by the Union Water & Electricity Company PJSC (UWEC) at Qidfa, in the emirate of Fujairah.
Sogex outbid nine regional and international water and power plant operators, including US-based CMS Energy Corporation and AES Corporation, Germany’s Babcock Borsig Powers, Japan’s Electric Power Development Company, Italy’s Enel Produzione and Belgium’s Tractebel. Sogex currently operates Oman's Ghubrah co-generation plant, and is the only private sector company in the region to have operated a multi-stage flash (MSF) plant.
A tender for project management consultancy will be awarded by September 2003. Bidders currently include British consultants PB Power and Mott McDonald, and the German Lahmyer International and Fitchner companies.
The Fujairah complex will consist of a 656-megawatt power unit using the multi-stage flash (MSF) technology and a desalination plant with the capacity to process 100-million gallons of water a day, using the reverse osmosis (RO) desalination process. A dual pipeline, 179-kilometer long, will carry water from the plant to Sweihan, Abu Dhabi.
The Dh2.9 billion contract for the construction of the complex was awarded to South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Company, which is expected to complete work on the site by 2003-end.
The pipeline contract, including the construction of water pumping stations and associated facilities, is valued at Dh1.6 billion, and is carried out by a joint venture between Al-Jaber Energy Services and Technip Germany. Project completion is scheduled for February 2004.
UWEC was set up by the Abu Dhabi government in June 2001 with a paid-up capital of Dh1.5 billion. It plans to privatize the project in line with the ongoing privatization of the water and power sector in Abu Dhabi. A foreign partner will be offered up to a 49 percent stake in the project, a structure similar to the one used by the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (ADWEA) to privatize its Taweelah A2, A1 and Shuweihat independent water & power projects (IWPPs). — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
