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Spain’s Acciona engineering group has won its first contract in the UAE with a mandate from Emirates SembCorp Water & Power Company (ESC) to design, build, and operate the expansion of the Fujairah desalination plant.
The expansion award follows the signing by Sembcorp of an additional 20-year water purchase agreement with Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Company (ADWEA) for the additional capacity.
The construction, operation and maintenance contract, worth more than $200m will increase the output capacity of the Fujairah 1 Independent Water and Power Plant (IWPP) by 137,000m3/day (30 MIGD).
ESC has highlighted the ability of the expansion project to recover seawater discharge from the existing multi-stage flash facility, and its inclusion of a of a new dissolved air floatation system, which will enhance the reliability of the reverse osmosis facility.
To view a video detailing the different elements of the plant, click here
The expanded facility will have a total capacity of 592,000m3/day, and is expected to serve a population equivalent of almost 600,000 inhabitants. The project will take 28 months to build.
The contract is Acciona’s first the UAE, and its third major deal in the Middle East, which is one of the world's largest markets for the desalination and water treatment sector.
The UAE recently announced a $13.9bn investment plan for water treatment over the next four years. Acciona Agua opened offices in Dubai in 2007.
The deal comes as the second this week for the Spanish group after it was awarded a $18.6m contract in Saudi Arabia for the two- year operation and maintainance of a pair of wastewater treatment plants in Makkah province.
Acciona Agua was also earlier this month awarded an operation and maintenance (O&M) contract for the wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) of Haddah-1 and Arana-1, both in Makkah Province, with a combined capacity of 375,000m3/day.
In October 2012, Acciona Agua won a $100m contract to design, build and commission a seawater desalination plant at Al Jubail.
Acciona’s bid for the Fujairah project was made by a consortium of Acciona Agua (75%) and Acciona Infrastructure (25%).
