Oman's Barka 5 independent water project (IWP) has reached commercial operations, its owner and operator, Madrid-headquartered GS Inima, has announced.

Barka 5 is Oman's eighth IWP scheme.

GS Inima "has successfully completed the acceptance tests of the final phase of the facility and is now delivering water to Nama Power & Water Procurement Company", GS Inima said on 20 August.

The project, which uses reverse osmosis technology, will serve a population of 800,000 in the Muscat, Dakhiliyah and Batinah areas – the most populated areas of the sultanate.

In November 2020, GS Inima won the contract to develop the Barka 5 IWP, which has a design capacity of 100,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d).

It reached an equity bridge loan agreement with project lenders in June 2022.

US/India-based Synergy Consulting is financial adviser to GS Inima on the project.

GS Inima, in a consortium with local contractor Sogex and Saudi Arabia's Aljomaih, won the contract to develop another IWP in Oman, the 300,000 cm/d Ghubrah 3 IWP, in 2020.

According to Nama Power & Water Procurement Company's latest Seven-Year Statement, the Ghubrah 3 IWP is expected to come onstream in 2026. 

Both seawater reverse osmosis schemes will be developed under a 20-year water purchase agreement between the developer and offtaker.

Netherlands-based KPMG is the client's financial adviser, the UK’s DLA Piper is legal adviser and Germany’s Fichtner is the technical adviser for both projects.

Italy's Fisia Italimpianti will participate as a 50% joint-venture partner in the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the two IWPs. GS Inima will account for the remaining 50%.

The EPC contracts for the Ghubrah 3 and Barka 5 IWPs are worth an estimated $330m.

Oman has awarded nine IWPs since 2009. They include plants in Sharqiyah, Salalah, Sohar, Ghubrah, Barka and Qurayyat.

Peak water demand in the sultanate's Main Interconnected System is expected to increase by an average of 2% annually, from 1,172,000 cm/d in 2022 to 1,387,000 cm/d in 2029, according to the state offtaker.

A higher growth rate of 5% annually is expected in the sultanate's Sharqiyah zone, and 7% is projected in Dhofar.

Photo credit: GS Inima