GS Inima, a world leader in the water sector, positioned as one of the Groups with the largest volume of plants in terms of concessions and with the longest history in reverse osmosis desalination, has reached financial closure of the Barka V desalination plant for a value of 135 million euros and whose client is Oman Power and Water Procurement.
GS Inima has obtained financing for 100% of the project’s needs by signing a 22-year non-recourse loan under the Project Finance modality and a bridge loan to finance the project’s equity (Equity Bridge Loan). Both international and local financial entities have intervened in long-term financing. The majority share is held by Korea Export-Import Bank (Kexim) followed by Bank Muscat and Standard Chartered Bank. For its part, the Equity Bridge Loan (EBL) has been financed by KEB Hana Bank London for a term of 3 years.
Additionally, through the local bank Ahli Bank, a line destined to finance the VAT of the project has been obtained, which has been an important milestone since this tax has been established very recently in Oman and therefore there were no experiences in this type of financing.
The Barka V desalination plant, located 58 kilometers west of the capital, Muscat, has a capacity of 100,000 m3/day and will supply drinking water to a population of 800,000 people. The completion of the construction and commissioning of the project is scheduled for June 6th., 2024 developed under a BOO contract basis (Build, own, operate in its acronym in English) during an operation period of 20 years.
