Sales from Plant Operations Estimated at 2.3 Tril. Won
GS Engineering & Construction (GS E&C) announced on Nov. 19 that its subsidiary GS Inima have won two seawater desalination projects in Oman in the Middle East. GS Inima is a world-class water treatment company based in Spain and is 100 percent owned by GS E&C.
GS E&C explained that it has received a letter of award (LOA) from Oman Power & Water Procurement Co. (OPWP) for the third stage of the Al-Gubra project and the fifth stage of the Barka project.
The company will carry out both projects in the build-own-operate (BOO) method. GS Inima will be in charge of financing, construction and operation for 20 years. GS E&C estimated sales from the operations of the two facilities at 1.634 trillion won and 697 billion won, respectively. GS Inima has continuously participated in global desalination projects since it built the world's first reverse osmotic (RO) plant in 1967.
The third phase of the Al-Gubra project is designed to build an independent 300,000-cubic-meter RO-type seawater desalination plant in the coastal area of Muscat, the capital of Oman. The plant can supply water to about a million people a day. It is the largest-ever single desalination project promoted by GS Inima. It will cost US$275 million in total. GS Inima will hold a 52 percent stake in an SPC which will operate the plant, a 50 percent stake in engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and a 51 percent in operation and management (O&M). The company is expected to break ground for the project in the second quarter of 2021 for completion 34 months later. It aims to start its commercial operations in the second quarter of 2024 and operate it for 20 years.
The fifth phase of the Barka independent water plant (IWP) project will create a 100,000-cubic-meter seawater desalination facility about 60 kilometers west of Muscat. The total budget is set at US$129 million. GS Inima will have 100 percent management rights and a 50 percent stake in EPC and O&M. Its commercial operations are scheduled to kick off in the second quarter of 2023.