Bahrain's Arab Shipbuilding & Repair Yard Company (Asry) said it is setting up a new seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant at an estimated cost of $8.6 million.

It is entering into a contract with Gemsil Aquatech Services Company, a subsidiary of Gemsil Holdings, to create the plant at the Asry site.

Gemsil is an established name with a very good track record in the field of SWRO operations.

This is in addition to its activities in the fields of electrical, mechanical, oil and gas industries, having its business operations in Kuwait, the UAE and India.

The plant will be built with state-of-the-art technology provided by Inexa-Spain, the technical partner of Gemsil, under the supervision of Asray's consultant Royal Haskoning UK.

The plant is expected to be commissioned by the end of February 2012 with an initial production capacity of 3,000 million tonnes per day.

It will be capable of meeting an increased demand of sweet water up to 7,000m tonnes per day if required.

The agreement between Asry and Gemsil is for a period of 25 years starting from 2012.

Under the deal, Gemsil undertakes to meet Asry's complete sweet water requirements for its ship repair activities and to cater for all yard needs including supplying sweet water to its two labour camps.

The new plant is considered one of Asry's major strategic cost saving projects and it is also expected to serve the Bahraini community by supplying the excess sweet water to the local market.

On completion of the 25 years lease period the plant will be completely taken over by Asry.-TradeArabia News Service