Bahwan Veolia Water, a joint venture of France’s Veolia and Oman’s Bahwan Engineering Company, has signed a five-year operations and maintenance (O&M) contract for the Al-Asilah desalination plant in the sultanate.

The Al-Asilah plant has a production capacity of 80,000 cubic metres a day and helps supply drinking water to about 600,000 residents across South Al-Sharqiyah governorate. It also has an on-site solar farm to support lower-carbon water production.

The plant entered commercial operation in January 2022 under a build-own-operate arrangement. A consortium of Bahwan Engineering and Japan-headquartered JGC Corporation developed it.

South Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, now known as Doosan Enerbility, carried out the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works.

Oman’s first independent water project (IWP), the Sur IWP, also serves residents in Al-Sharqiyah governorate.

The main contract for the project was awarded in 2007, with Veolia carrying out EPC works and acting as shareholder in Sharqiyah Desalination Company, which owns the plant.

Bahwan Veolia Water signed a 22-year O&M agreement for the project that same year.