Palm Water LLC has been awarded an AED 1 billion contract by Nakheel to design, build, own and operate a sewage treatment plant, as well as sewage and irrigation networks that service the Nakheel’s development at International City, Dubai.
As part of the award, Palm Water will be granted a 30-year concession to provide both sewage and irrigation services on behalf of Nakheel.
The sewage treatment plant is set to be among the largest Membrane BioReactor (MBR) -based plants in the Middle East. It is expected to have a capacity to treat about 110,000 m3 of sewage each day - nearly the same amount of high quality irrigation water.
“We are very pleased to have been awarded this important contract,” saod Robert M. Bryniak, CEO of Palm Water. “It represents one of the first contracts awarded in the sewerage business to a privately owned company in Dubai on a DBOO basis.”
The plant will employ Membrane BioReactor (MBR) technology, which will result in an extremely high grade of treated sewage effluent that can be safely used for irrigation purposes throughout the development at International City.
The sewage treatment plant will be constructed in phases, with the first phase going on stream in late 2007.
The scope of the contract includes designing, supplying, constructing, owning, operating and maintaining the sewage treatment plant. It also covers the owning, operating and maintaining of the pumping station and tanks.
The existing sewerage, irrigation networks and collection systems will be transferred to Palm Water and all future enhancements will be implemented and maintained by the company over the next 30 years.
The networks and collection systems being developed by others at Phases 2 & 3 at International City will be purchased by Palm Water when completed and maintained by the Company during the concession period.
International companies are expected to be involved in the design, construction and operation of the sewage treatment plant. MWH is providing Palm Water with technical support for the project while Allen & Overy is the legal counsel. HSBC will be the lead financial arranger.
Palm Water LLC is owned by Istithmar, which has a majority stake in the company. It undertakes projects that relate to the build, own and operate (BOO) or build, own and transfer (BOT) of a specific development. Palm Water also participates in projects related to seawater desalination plants, commercial, municipal and industrial water treatment plants.
It also implements projects such as wastewater treatment and recycling plants, potable water, treated wastewater distribution networks, wastewater collection networks. Palm Water is also engaged in related businesses that include selling and distributing associated products related to the water business. Palm Water is presently implementing two desalination plants located on the Palm Jumeirah.
Source: Palm Water
