Vol 7, Issue 2 (February 2006)

Need to know

  • CHINA NEWS

    * The state-owned public utilities in Lanzhou, Gansu province are to be privatised.

  • DESAL DEFEATED

    * Sydney Water lost the battle for hearts and minds over its proposed desalination plant last week, and agreed to postpone the project.

  • GOLD RUSH

    * Construction of some of the Gulf’s large IWPPs is set to commence this year as projects reach financial close.

  • NEW YEAR NEW JOB

    * Besides a new man at the top of GE Infrastructure Water and Process Technologies (see story p9), the new year has also seen a new face at the top of Agbar, Spain’s largest private water group.

  • ON A ROLL

    * Aqualia – the water division of Spanish construction group FCC – is getting hard to avoid.

Analysis

  • A strategy for GE

    Christopher Gasson looks at the issues GE Water’s new boss will have to grapple with.

  • CHART OF THE MONTH

    Suez and Veolia have both spent the last three years cutting back their water portfolios. Veolia shed US Filter while Suez shed Nalco and Northumbrian.

  • Insight - David Lloyd Owen

    Through the looking Glas: Cryptosporidium, critiques and context.

General

  • China tariff reform on the 2006-11 agenda

    GWI China correspondent Kathy Liu looks at the priorities for the 11th five-year plan.

  • GE Water gets a new boss

    After building the business to $1.9 billion revenues, GE Infrastructure Water and Process Technologies boss George Oliver has been moved on. Has he disappointed?

  • Honey and clover

    GWI marketing manager Alison Ireland is getting excited about the 2006 Global Water Awards.

  • Is Eastern Europe out of the woods?

    A new survey of private water operations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia suggests that the worst may be over for private operators in the region – as long as they learn from past mistakes.

  • Legal services review: Competition in the Gulf hots up

    Our annual survey of law firms operating in the water sector finds that the flood of deals originating in the Middle East has inspired a flurry of office openings and staff poachings. Alastair Strickland reports.

  • Lima grapples with investment challenge

    Peru’s capital needs $1.3 billion to eliminate its seasonal water shortages. Too bad the politicians can’t agree.

  • Private equity awed by Thames’ sale

    Thames Water is undeniably attractive to private equity funds: the only problem is that it is too big to be taken single handedly. UBS is working on a solution.

  • Seidel back in the saddle

    The US Filter veteran promises no more acquisition sprees as he takes command of fusible pipe specialist Underground Solutions.

  • Spanish divorcé takes on the world

    With four major deals over the past year, Aqualia hasn\'t looked back since the split with Veolia in 2004. GWI’s Spain correspondent Richard Weyndling asks Miguel Jurado Fernandez about the company\'s international strategy.

  • The leading water law firms

    See: <b>Law services review: Competition in the Gulf hots up</b>

  • Veolia to take over at Ajman

    The project is being restructured and refinanced to enable it to move ahead.

  • Wastewater market takes off

    A wastewater market is developing rapidly and attracting European private water companies to the region.

  • Where is Aqualia coming from?

    FCC\'s water services division has established itself as number two in Spain.

Brief

  • NEWS IN BRIEF – AMERICAS

    * Argentina’s Aguas Santafesinas, ASSA, the new state-owned utility that took over water and sewerage services in the Santa Fe province from France’s Suez, will increase its rates this month.

  • NEWS IN BRIEF – EUROPE

    * Germany leads Europe on reducing unaccounted-for water. Distribution losses are just 7.3% of total water supplied, according to the gas and water federation, BGW.

  • NEWS IN BRIEF – MIDDLE EAST

    * The consortium of International Power, Suez Energy International and Sumitomo Corporation has signed key project documents for the Hidd IWPP including a 20-year power and water purchase agreement (PWPA).

  • NEWS IN BRIEF – MIDDLE EAST #2

    * Singapore’s SembCorp Utilities is on course to score its first success in the Gulf IWPP market.

Market insight

  • Crouching tiger, hidden dragon

    A new GWI report on the Asia Pacific water and wastewater market highlights the opportunities and threats the region presents to international water industry companies. Its authors, Olivia Jensen and Frederic Blanc-Brude, preview its contents.