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| Acciona wins contract in the United Arab Emirates Acciona, a global leader in renewable energy, infrastructure and water services, has won its first contract in the United Arab Emirates with a mandate to design, build, and operate the expansion of the Fujairah desalination plant, located in the north of the country. Emirates SembCorp Water & Power Company-a public-private company made up of the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority and Singapore's SembCorp water and energy utility- awarded the contract to a consortium made up of Acciona Agua (75%) and Acciona Infrastructure (25%). The construction, operation and maintenance contract is worth more than US$200 million (around €150m at current exchange rates). The project will increase the desalination plant's capacity by 137,000m3/day, and will take 28 months to build. The expanded facility, with a total capacity of 592,000m3/day, is expected to serve a population equivalent of almost 600,000 inhabitants. This is Acciona Agua's first contract in the UAE, and its third major contract in the Middle East, one of the world's biggest markets for the desalination and water treatment sector due to the region's acute shortage of fresh water. Acciona Agua opened offices in Dubai in 2007. In October 2012, it won a US$100 million contract to design, build and commission the Al Jubail seawater desalination plant which will service both the city and its associated industrial complex located in the eastern Province on the Persian Gulf. Earlier this month, Acciona Agua was awarded an operation and maintenance (O&M) contract for the wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) of Haddah-1 and Arana-1, both in Mecca Province, with a combined capacity of 375,000m3/day. Following a few years in which big projects in the Persian Gulf were put on hold as a result of the global financial crisis, last year saw renewed activity in infrastructure and water tenders in the region's biggest economies - Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Oman. The UAE recently announced a 51 million dirham (around 10.5 billion euro) investment plan for water treatment plants for the next four years. write your comments about the article :: © 2013 Construction News :: home page |