Vol 3, Issue 2 (February 2002)

Analysis

  • A word from the Editor

    Welcome to February’s GWI. The global water industry continues to perform steadily, if unspectacularly.

General

  • Africa: performance indicators and benchmarking study

    A number of African water utilities have taken part in a performance indicators and benchmarking exercise, with the aim of making the information available to utility managers, government policy makers, regulatory agencies, NGOs and financial institutions.

  • AWW shareholders approve merger with RWE

    Shareholders have approved the acquisition of American Water Works Company (AWW) by the RWE group’s water company, Thames Water Aqua Holdings.

  • Brasilia WwTPs contracts awarded

    BRASILIA’S WATER COMPANY Companhia de Saneamento do Distrito Federal (Caesb) has awarded two contracts worth a total of R$102 million (US$44 million) to two Brazilian companies.

  • Earth Tech combines Brazilian concessions

    US COMPANY EARTH TECH is to combine its Brazilian water service concessions into a single organisation.

  • EBRD’s ongoing commitment to water

    By January of 2002, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) had signed over €1.2 billion in financing commitments for municipal operations. Of this, around €980 million are commitments in water and sewerage projects.

  • Egypt’s changing view of the Nile

    Egypt is as important in the development of water resources today as it has always been. One of the oldest water civilisations, with a millennia-old culture based on the power and fertility of the Nile, it was at the forefront of a series of massive post-war water projects. Today, it holds the key to the future of water sector development in much of eastern and central Africa. The importance of the Nile in Egyptian politics, economics and culture is underlined by the fact that 98% of the country’s population live on just 4% of the land – almost exclusively along the narrow Nile Valley and in the Delta.

  • German grant for Indonesia project

    THE GERMAN BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION, KFW, is providing an €8 million grant to the east Indonesian province of Nusa Tenggara Timur to extend and modernise the water supply system in Sumba and West Timor. The aim is to provide drinking water for the population, thereby reducing the occurrence of diarrhoea and parasites.

  • KfW supports PSP in Uganda

    Ondeo has been awarded a two-year concession contract to manage and operate water and wastewater services in the Ugandan capital of Kampala.

  • Korea shows appetite for PSP

    Faced with the need to modernise public infrastructure throughout the country, the South Korean government recently launched an ambitious programme to encourage increased private sector participation (PSP) in the utilities secto

  • Ondeo buys out ThyssenKrupp’s stake in Eurawasser

    ONDEO HAS ACQUIRED THYSSENKRUPP SERV’S stake in their joint subsidiary, Eurawasser. The price was not disclosed.

  • Ondeo eyes Romania’s Aquatim

    ONDEO IS EXPECTED to be one of the main contenders in the bidding linked to the planned privatisation of Aquatim – the water and wastewater company owned by the Romanian municipality of Timisoara. Aquatim provides services to a population of 380,000 in Timisoara and in smaller neighbouring communities in western Romania.

  • Sanepar: a way forward for Brazilian privatisation

    Paraná state water company Sanepar has struck a novel deal with its main client – Curitiba city council – which could pave the way for other Brazilian states keen to sell off basic sanitation concessions. The mayor of Curitiba, Casio Taniguchi, signed a 30-year service concession contract with Sanepar, which is partially owned by Vivendi, at the end of 2001.

  • Saudi Arabia plans new desal plants

    SAUDI ARABIA is to build 20 desalination plants to meet continued and rising demand – due to population growth – for fresh water.

  • Severn Trent to head €800 million Italian project

    THE UK’S SEVERN TRENT WATER has won the bid to manage water and wastewater services for around a quarter of a million people north of Rome. The company will head a private partnership, which will manage water services around Terni, in the Umbria region, for 30 years.

  • Strong interest in Paraguay’s state water company

    AT LEAST TEN GROUPS have purchased the prequalification prospectus for Corposana, Paraguay’s state water company. They are Anglian Water, International Water, Canal de Isabel II and Aguas de Valencia, Vivendi Water/FCC, Ondeo, OSE (Uruguay) and the Paraguayan companies, Companhia Internacional de Aguas, EDB, Fluoder and Emsa-Ecomipa.

  • Umgeni Water update

    CROMET MOLEPO, the axed chief executive of Umgeni Water, has filed an application to the Pretoria High Court in which he alleges that he was ousted because of his investigation into the company’s 1997 contract with Specialised Outsourcing (Outsors).

  • Vivendi Universal confirms VE pledge

    JEAN-MARIE MESSIER, president of the Vivendi Universal holding group, has said that the company is to retain its role as the leading shareholder in Vivendi Environnement (VE) “for a long time”.

Performer of the month

  • A sleepy start to 2002

    January was yet another sleepy month for the UK water industry. Water company share prices showed little movement with light trading for the month.