Two-bin recycling system planned

One of the success stories of the waste management policy has been in the healthcare sector, which now processes approximately 100 per cent of healthcare waste at three facilities in Muscat, Dhofar and Al Batinah North. The remainder will likely be completed once a small additional facility is constructed in Musandam.

Rising water demand

Waste is also being envisaged as a solution to the Sultanate’s rising water demands. Be’ah has completed feasibility studies for a waste-to-energy-to-water programme, for which it is expecting the authorities to float a tender in 2018 and begin operations by 2021.

“Developing a waste-to-energyto-water programme is of national importance. The programme should be operational by 2021 and could eventually supply a sub- stantial amount of Oman’s water needs,” Al Harthy told OBG.

To meet demand for potable water in the Sultanate, which is reported to be rising by 15 per cent every year, the Public Authority for Electricity and Water (PAEW) has announced plans to implement water projects worth over $83 million.

The projects include six new reservoirs, emergency response systems and improvements to water distribution infrastructure, as well as expansions to its existing water desalination operations.

The Qurayyat water desalination plant, which has the capacity to produce 200,000 cubic metres of water per day, will go online by the end of the year, and will be followed in 2018 by a 281,000-cu-metre-per-day desalination plant in Barka and a 250,000 cu-metre-per-day desalination plant at Sohar, according to media reports. In August this year, the PAEW issued a request for proposals for a consultant to prepare a tender document and contract to build a further desalination project in Wadi Dayqah on a build-own-operate basis, according to the statement.