Three international firms have pre-qualified to bid for a contract for a $500 million power and water plant in Oman and the government is expected to name the winner this month, an official said.

The official at the Oman Water and Power Procurement Company named the bidders as AES Corporation/AES Oasis, Suez-Tractabel and Marubeni.
“The successful bidder will be selected by  early October,” said the official. The plant is expected to come onstream in 2009. The Barka project has a capacity to generate 550 MW of power and 20 million gallons per day of water. The successful bidder will also acquire a controlling 65 per cent stake in the 690 MW-Rusayl Power Company (RPC) as part of the government’s privatisation programme.
Oman has provisionally estimated the value of Rusayl’s assets at $180 million.
Oman had short-listed seven bidders for the power project and the asset sale, including Mitsubishi, International Power and Gulf Investment Corp, Sembcorp Utilities and Kansai Electric Power.