DUBAI, UAE, Dec. 9, 2007 -- Palm Utilities awarded SUEZ Environment, through its subsidiary Degremont, in consortium with Besix Group, a DBO contract totaling around $800 million. Ahmed Butti, Chairman of Palm Utilities and Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO of SUEZ Environment, signed this major environmental contract in Dubai on Dec. 9, 2007.
The contract is to design, build and operate a wastewater treatment & reuse plant for 10 years as part of the Jumeirah Golf Estates real estate development at Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It also covers the installation and operation of a system to collect sewage and distribute treated water spanning nearly 40 kilometers. Degremont's share of the contract will reach 54% of the total amount.
Through this contract, Palm Utilities reaffirms its commitment to provide the safest, most efficient and environmentally friendly systems.
"SUEZ Environment has acquired a solid reputation in the Gulf countries as a highly reliable partner with unique skills and expertise", stated Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO of SUEZ Environment. "The task of a benchmark player like SUEZ Environment is to provide its technological know-how and assist the country in its sustainable development initiative. With this new plant, SUEZ Environment also reinforces its positions in the UAE and confirms its ambitions to expand in the region, in particular by introducing innovative processes such as seawater desalination and re-use of treated wastewater. The Gulf countries are facing major environmental challenges and SUEZ Environment has the will to seize new opportunities".
Jumeirah Golf Estates real estate complex is located 22 km to the south west of Dubai's business district. As a real new city, it will mix residential neighborhoods laid out among several golf courses, which will be maintained with recycled water, coming from the new plant. Nakheel, Dubai's first real estate developer, granted a 30-year concession to Palm Water to develop this project.
The wastewater treatment plant will be the largest sewage treatment plant in the world using Membrane BioReactor (MBR) technology and will be able to process 220,000 cubic meters of water a day for a population estimated at 900,000 inhabitants. The ultra filtration will guarantee the good quality of the treated water, reused for landscaping purposes. The sludge will be treated by a Degremont digestion technology combined with a boosting system to reduce the volume of sludge produced and provide biogas for use in the operation the plant. In addition, Degremont will dry the sludge using the Innodry process for a 70% further reduction in volume. The process dries the sludge without producing dust, thereby ensuring a very safe operation.
The contract will be performed under a consortium lead by Degremont, which will design, build and operate the plant, and the Belgian group Besix, established in Dubai for 40 years, which will provide the civil engineering for the entire project and will build the sewage collection system and other mechanical sections of works.
This major contract in the United Arab Emirates reinforces SUEZ Environment's presence in the Middle East, coming after the Doha West and Lusail contracts in Qatar to design build and operate wastewater treatment plants and the Barka 2 desalination plant at Oman. It also is illustrative of Degremont's capacity to develop a specific expertise and know-how wastewater treatment, and sewage sludge treatment in order to meet the Middle East's major environmental challenges.
Degremont has just completed the Design and Build of one 267,000 m³/d BOT of wastewater in As Samra in Jordan, and another 100,000 m³/d of brackish water reverse osmosis in Wadi Ma'In dead sea.
These countries must meet a growing need for water purification given their rapid economic and demographic growth and diminishing water resources. The desalination of seawater and reuse of wastewater show a great potential for expansion.
On the 2005-2015 period of time, 7 billion dollars should be invest to build wastewater treatment plants in the Middle East and Africa. Over the same time, nearly 14 billion dollars could be spent on desalination infrastructure in the Persian Golf and Red Sea regions.
Degremont is the water treatment specialist within SUEZ Environment. With net sales of 1.038 billion euros in 2006, it operates in over 70 countries and has nearly 4,500 employees.
SUEZ Environment is a business division of the SUEZ group. It provides equipment and services for the production and distribution of drinking water, wastewater collection and treatment, plus waste removal and reclamation.
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Also see:
-- "SUEZ Environment makes strategic acquisition in Germany"
-- "Degrémont signs contracts worth close to 55 million € for Cairo wastewater treatment plant"
-- "SUEZ Environment renews major €178 million public-private partnership with city of Indianapolis"
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