PROJECTS

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The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) awarded Package C of Project Aquatrine to the C2C consortium of Costain, Ove Arup & Partners and Severn Trent.

The deal is worth around £1 billion in revenues to the consortium. Project Aquatrine is currently the UK’s largest PFI water project and seeks to transfer the responsibility for the O&M of the MoD’s water and wastewater assets to the private sector (see tracker, p23). The project is divided into three separate contracts. Package A, which covers the midlands, Wales and southwest England, was awarded to Brey Utilities earlier this year. Announcement of a preferred bidder for Package B, which covers Scotland, is imminent. Package C covers the north, east and southeast of England, including Royal Air Force bases at Marham and Leeming and the army garrisons at Catterick and Aldershot.

The next stage of the Taweelah water and power facility in Abu Dhabi is emerging as possibly the largest water and power project yet proposed. After the cancellation of plans for a new IWPP at Mirfa, the next stage of ADWEA’s development at Taweelah will involve the acquisition of the existing Taweelah B1 and B2 power and desalination plants and addition of 1,000MW of power capacity, as well as up to 400,000m3/d of water capacity (see report page 19).

NS Water Consortium Sdn Berhad is gearing itself up to take the concession for Negeri Sembilan state in southern Malaysia. The concession is likely to be the largest concession by value yet granted in Malaysia when it is finally awarded some time in the next six months. Certainly the contract NS Water has just given to Zecon to carry out engineering when it takes over the concession is a big one: it is worth billion.

Zecon might not be the first name that springs to mind as an engineering contractor with experience in the water sector. The connection is that Zecon’s Group managing director/chief executive officer and substantial shareholder, Tuan Haji Zainal Abidin bin Haji Ahmad, is also the managing director and substantial shareholder of SCIB, one of NS Water’s major shareholders.

Israeli consulting group Tahal signed a €13.5 million agreement with the Belgrade Water Board to upgrade and extend a WTP linked to the Sava river. Tahal, a subsidiary of the Kardan Group, will design, supply equipment and direct construction of the plant expansion. The improved plant will have a capacity of 180,000m3/d and will double Belgrade’s drinking water supply capacity. The project is being financed by EBRD.

Bechtel gave an update on its work in Iraq as part of a briefing to members of the US Congress. During November, work on the Safwan water supply system south of Basrah was completed. As a consequence, a reliable potable water service has been restored to the town’s 40,000 residents. Meanwhile in Baghdad, work to restore wastewater treatment facilities is helping improve sanitation services for 700,000 people, the company reported. Sewage from Baghdad’s 5.5 million residents has been flowing untreated into the River Tigris.

China’s Three Gorges hydroelectric project was successfully listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange where the share price of the Yangtze Electric Power Co. gained 45% shortly after the launch. The listing is arguably the most important in China this year. The company is now valued at over billion. The share price was introduced at 4.3 yuan but went up rapidly to around 6.23 yuan.