52 steel filters of 4 meters diameter, 15.70 meters long and 40,000 kg heavy, have started to arrive at the seawater desalination plant of Al Ghubrah in Oman. These filters will be packed on site with gravel, sand and anthracite and they will be part of the pretreatment phase of the reverse osmosis desalination process of the installation, that incorporates the latest technologies: DAF (dissolved air flotation).
The design, build, finance, own and operation (BOOT contract) of this IWP was awarded to a consortium of Sumitomo Corporation from Japan, Malakoff International Limited from Malaysia and Cadagua in 2012 by the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company.
The plant with a capacity of 191,000 m3/day (42 MGD per day) equivalent to supplying a population of 800,000 will provide drinking water to meet the country's growing demand which currently amounts to about 827,000 m3 and is expected to increase at an average rate of 6% per year over a seven year horizon.
Emilio López Pacetti, Contract Manager of Cadagua, commented that "owing to access and space restrictions, for this operation it has been necessary to install a crane that was able to place these 40-ton elements at a distance of 60 meters. It is an important landmark for the Project."
Cadagua has reached 2 million hours worked without reporting any accidents (LTI - Lost Time Injury) at the seawater desalination plant project of Al Ghubrah, in Oman.
Cadagua is the majority shareholder in a Consortium together with Wabag and Galfar for the engineering, procurement and construction of the plant and participates as well in a Consortium with Sumitomo Corporation and Malakoff International Ltd. for the operation and maintenance of the installation for a period of 20 years.
This project reinforces Cadagua's footprint in the Middle East and adds to the list of references that includes the Medina-Yanbu desalination plant in Saudi Arabia; the Darsait sewage treatment plant in Oman; and the Al Zawrah desalination plant in Ajman, UAE.
More information: Spectacular arrival of filters on the coasts of Oman.
