In December 2018, Muscat Daily reported that Oman's Ministry of Finance and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) had concluded two loans totalling 150 million rials. Of this, 89 million rials went to a 140 km water pipeline between Sohar and Barka, covering 70 percent of its 127 million rial cost. The line was to carry water from the nearly finished Sohar and Barka desalination plants to North and South Batinah governorates and cut supply interruptions. The second loan was meant for a road.
The report showed that new desalination capacity in Oman needed transmission lines to reach consumers, and that regional development funds helped to pay for such networks.