Oman's Barka V desal plant enters commercial operations phase

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GS Inima, a global leader in the water sector, said it has successfully completed the acceptance tests of the final phase of the Barka V desalination plant in Oman and is now delivering water to Nama Power & Water Procurement Company, the single procurer of power and water capacity and output in the Sultanate of Oman.

Positioned as one of the groups with the largest volume of plants in terms of concessions and with the longest history in reverse osmosis desalination, GS Inima had played a major role in the project as EPC contractor.

In this key role, the Spanish utility major was responsible for the construction and commissioning of the desalination plant as well as the technological leadership, in charge of the engineering, procurement, construction supervision and commissioning of the project for the pre-treatment, reverse osmosis process and post-treatment of the plant.

Barka V achieved 100% availability, including the last Performance Test Total Contracted Water Capacity for 105,000 cu m/day. The reliability testing involved the plant operating at its full capacity, producing 100,000 cu m per day of quality drinking water for 30 days.

Barka V was one of the largest infrastructure projects recently undertaken in the Sultanate of Oman, whose construction started in March 2022 and ended in June 2024.

The project, which uses reverse osmosis technology will cater to the needs of 800,000 residents in Muscat, Dakhiliyah and Batinah areas, the most populated zones of the country.

According to GS Inima, the Barka V plant also achieved an important health and safety milestone, having overseen 3 million work hours without lost time incidents (LTI), and the maintenance of excellent safety conditions throughout the project.

With completion of the project in 26 months, Barka V has also set a construction record in the desalination industry in Sultanate of Oman.

Nama Power and Water Procurement Acting CEO Ahmed bin Salem bin Mohammed Al Abri said: "The commencement of commercial operations at Barka V underscores PWP’s commitment to meeting the growing demand for potable water. This milestone reflects our continuous efforts to implement new projects that ensure water security and provide potable water in the Sultanate of Oman."

"By expanding the production of energy and desalinated water at the best economic cost, we aim to fulfill our mission of delivering sustainable solutions for our community," he stated.

GS Inima pointed out that this achievement reaffirms its capacity to undertake and successfully complete projects of high technical complexity, providing an optimum response to the client’s requirements while achieving the highest levels of occupational risk prevention and safety standards.

Within the region, the Spanish utility major is also in charge of the construction and operation and maintenance of Ghubrah III – the largest desalination plant in the Sultanate of Oman currently under the construction phase.

"We are proud to have reached this milestone on time which is the result of the strong collaborative and successful teamwork between our partners, engineers, the constructions team and Nama," remarked its CEO Marta Verde.

"Leveraging from our global expertise, we are now focused on to keep up the good work, fully committed to working with all industry partners in Oman to continue to meet their growing water and energy demands," she added.-TradeArabia News Service