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| FCC wins an Italian Water Management contract FCC, through its subsidiary Aqualia, the second-largest Spanish water management operator and the sixth-largest water management operator in the world, has won a tender to manage the integral water cycle for the Italian province of Caltanissetta for the next 30 years. This contract's business portfolio is worth a total of 1, 500 million euros. This is the first contract Aqualia has ever secured in Italy. Only 10% of Italy's market of 58 million inhabitants is served by private companies, but the firms that are there are some of the world's primary operators: Veolia (Sicily, Calabria, Latina, Piamonte, Liguria and Tuscany), the Suez Group (Tuscany ) and Saur (Sicily and Campania). The potential of the Italian water market is considerable, because Italy has one of the smallest private sectors of any of the European countries. Moreover, it is currently a very dynamic market to be in, as shown by the recent award of water service for the city of Catania and the tenders currently under way in cities such as Palermo, Naples, Syracuse, Ragusa and Catanzaro. The contract calls for 247 million euros in investments. Eight-five million of that will be coming from European, national and regional public funds. The tender was awarded to a consortium in which Aqualia is the majority participant (51%), the other members being the Italian firms Galva (47%), CCC (1%), Gate (0.5%) and AIEM (0.5%). At present, Aqualia is a finalist in two more comprehensive water management tenders in Italy, one in Ragusa, Sicily, and one in Vibo Valentia, Calabria. Together the two projects cover 480, 000 inhabitants and are expected to bring in 1, 600 million euros in revenues. The province of Caltanissetta, located on the island of Sicily, has 23 towns and a total population of 275, 000. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Construction News :: home page |