GS Inima's logo / Courtesy of GS E&C

By Park Jae-hyuk

GS Inima has kicked off a 2.4 trillion won ($1.9 billion) seawater desalination project in Oman, the water treatment firm's parent company GS E&C said Tuesday.

GS E&C said it signed contracts to raise a combined $130 million for the Barka 5 independent water plant (IWP) project, ordered by Oman Power & Water Procurement Company.

The Korean firm plans to borrow 70 percent of the money from the Export-Import Bank of Korea and financial institutions in Oman. The remaining 30 percent will be borrowed from Hana Bank, based on their bridge loan agreement.

Prior to these contracts, GS Inima signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract in late March to start the construction of a facility that can desalinate 100,000 kiloliters of water every day in the city, located 60 kilometers away from the Omani capital of Muscat.

Because the project is based on a build-own-operate (BOO) agreement, GS Inima will run the facility for 20 years, once construction ends during the second quarter of 2024. The facility is expected to generate 700 billion won in revenue for 20 years.

In addition, GS Inima is scheduled to participate in the Al-Ghubra 3 project intended to build a plant that can desalinate 300,000 kiloliters of water every day. This is expected to generate 1.7 trillion won in revenue for 20 years.

"The Oman Barka project will be an opportunity for our company to expand its presence across the Asian market, not only in the Middle East," GS E&C President Huh Yoon-hong said. "The water treatment business is not only a future growth engine of GS E&C, but also a representative eco-friendly business for the ESG era. We will consolidate our status as the global leader in this field."