Vol 3, Issue 4 (April 2002)

Analysis

  • A word from the Editor

    Welcome to the April issue of GWI. There is a strong focus on Europe this month. Our lead story is on Poznan, a project that seems to have been around forever. The EU’s Directorate General for Regional Policy has asked the Polish city to clarify its position and make clear whether it wants to proceed with the concession or not.

General

  • Aquatrine running smoothly

    A series of site visits are planned to take place from this month onwards to allow bidders for packages B and C of the MoD’s Project Aquatrine to build up a knowledge of the asset base, the Aquatrine team said.

  • Californian deregulation

    In the wake of the Enron collapse, deregulation in the United States has generally been deemed dead on arrival. However, while that may be true in the political realm, in the halls of California’s Metropolitan Water District (MWD), deregulation of water is not only a possibility but a reality. January 2003 will see the effective removal of government price controls writes Neil McCarthy, director of Haustus Water Group.

  • Construction starts at Ras Laffan

    CROWN PRINCE SHEIKH JASSEM BIN HAMAD AL-THANI laid the foundation stone of the Ras Laffan water and power project in a ceremony in the Gulf emirate last month. Ras Laffan is one of the largest projects in the region, with a total cost of $718.4 million and a capacity of 750MW of electricity and 40MIGD of desalinated water.

  • EU seeks clarity from Poznan

    The European Union’s Directorate General for Regional Policy is seeking immediate clarification from Poznan to determine if the city wants to proceed with a 25-year concession for water and wastewater services. The project, which has been under preparation since 1998, has been continually delayed due to legal definition issues and more recently, rumours that the municipal authorities have withdrawn their support for the process.

  • Finnish city to outsource WwTP

    KEMWATER SERVICES, jointly owned by Kemira, Helsinki Water and YIT Environment, has signed a preliminary agreement with the Finnish city of Haapavesi and the Valio dairy to take over operations of the Haapavesi WwTP.

  • Guanabara Bay stage two moves ahead

    RIO DE JANEIRO HAS submitted detailed proposals for foreign loans totalling US$402 million for the second stage of the Guanabara Bay clean-up programme.

  • Indianapolis signs up Vivendi

    VIVENDI ENVIRONNEMENT (VE) has secured a major municipal contract in the US only two weeks after announcing a drastic review of the value of its subsidiary, US Filter, in the water services sector (see GWI, Vol. 3, Issue 3, p.13).

  • Israel restates commitment to desal and water imports

    ISRAEL’S ECONOMIC CABINET passed two historic decisions last month. Firstly, it decided to go ahead with the import of water from Turkey despite the collapse of the original deal some months ago (see GWI, Vol. 2, Issue 12, p.7). In a second announcement, it said that national annual seawater desalination capacity should double from 200Mm<sup>3</sup> to 400Mm<sup>3</sup>.

  • Low tariffs and organised crime blight Italy’s water sector

    Companies with an interest in the Italian water sector have been holding their breath ever since the Galli Law was passed in 1994. When that complex piece of legislation was finally approved, it seemed inevitable that the country would embark on a complete overhaul of water management. However, eight years later Italy is still far from realising its ambition of setting up an integrated, cost-effective, modern water system.

  • Mekorot restructuring plan gets the go-ahead

    Israel’s national water company, Mekorot, is to become a holding company with three subsidiaries, following approval from the Ministry of Finance for the restructuring of the group.

  • New IWPP announced for Algeria

    THE ALGERIAN GOVERNMENT has confirmed its commitment to the development of IWPPs with the announcement of another project.

  • Ondeo and Vivendi in command in Morocco

    Most concessions in Morocco have linked water and wastewater services to power provision. Such a policy has provided a host of opportunities for Suez and Vivendi Environnement (VE) because of the disparate nature of their businesses. The two French companies are now firmly established in the North African country. Government water policy in the past has lacked an overall strategy but now seems to centre upon private sector participation in the main cities, and a number of major contracts have been offered over the past few years.

  • Sabesp unveils investment plan

    São Paulo state water company Sabesp has announced a plan to invest R$2.77 billion (US$1.2 billion) in the period 2002-2006, the most part from its cash flow which is expected to be maintained at around R$3.5 billion a year (US$1.5 billion a year).

  • Seven bidders for Saudi plant

    A CONTRACT TO BUILD A NEW DESALINATION PLANT in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah has attracted bids from seven companies. The estimated $25 million scheme, for which the client is the local Kindasa Water Services, will have a capacity of 25,500m<sup>3</sup>/d.

  • Shanghai contract for Ondeo

    ONDEO HAS BEEN CHOSEN by the Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park as its partner for a new petrochemical industrial park.

  • Umgeni/Outsors latest

    THE SOUTH AFRICAN WATER UTILITY, UMGENI WATER has suspended, but not abandoned, plans to interdict Specialised Outsourcing (Outsors) from paying a 125c per share dividend to its shareholders, following legal advice not to pursue the issue.

  • Uncertainty over Lagos timing

    THE PROCESS OF AWARDING CONTRACTS to run the operations of the Lagos State Water Corporation (LSWC) continues to be plagued by delays. While the LSWC insists that tender documents will be issued within weeks and that the two concession contracts for Lagos East and Lagos West will be awarded before the presidential election in early 2003, others are not so certain.

  • US water industry contemplates its future

    The best and brightest in the US water industry convened in New York last month for Schwab Washington Research Group’s annual global water conference. Speakers and delegates tackled a range of issues including industry consolidation, foreign ownership, infrastructure funding and public-private partnerships.

  • Water conservation programme extended

    THE US INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, US AID is to extend a three-year water conservation programme in Jordan for a further two years.

Companies

  • Growth opportunities eyed by RWE

    The German energy and water services group, RWE is to turn itself into “the most profitable water services company in the world”, according to its president and CEO Dietmar Kuhnt.

  • RWE beats Gelsenwasser to RWW

    AFTER A BITTER FIGHT with Gelsenwasser and accusations of insider dealing, RWE Aqua has acquired 36.67% of water utility RWW – one of Germany’s largest utilities – from the local authority of Mülheim an der Ruhr. The town of Mülheim will retain a 10% stake in RWW.

  • VE acquires Southern Water option

    ALTHOUGH MAINTAINING that it is more interested in asset operation than ownership, Vivendi Environnement has vnevertheless acquired an option to buy a strategic stake in Southern Water.

  • Wessex sold to Malaysian group

    Asian analysts have reacted positively to the acquisition of Wessex Water by YTL Power International in terms of the price and quality of assets, although some have expressed reservations about taking on Wessex’s debt.

Performer of the month

  • March markets recover

    US markets started to recover in March. The Dow Jones Industrial hit a high for the year of 10,635 and water companies enjoyed the market surge. With few exceptions, the industry showed overall positive gains for the month.