For this and other news, see summary & links for the following items below:
• "Abu Dhabi's policy reversal on privatisation/nationalisation shows the way"
• "Siemens Financial presents 'Green Financing' for infrastructure projects"
• "GDF SUEZ secures financing for Shuweihat 2 project"
• "Flowserve signs valve manufacturing joint venture with S&A Abahsain"
• "First private desalination plant gets go ahead in Jeddah"
• "Chinese, Saudi firms team on global desal, power project"
• "Environmental impact of seawater use in industry discussed at Doha event"
• "Kahramaa signs contracts for six water projects worth QR2.62bn"
• "G-77 Ministerial Forum on Water wraps up in Oman"
• "Water supply project to Khabourah launched"
• "EU investments in Egypt include €295M toward improved water, wastewater"
• "Jordan's fossil water source has high radiation levels"
• "Malaysian NGO to set up fund for Gaza reconstruction effort"
• "Fear that sewage may contaminate drinking water in, near Gaza"
• "Gaza sewage lagoons could collapse, water authority says"
• "Should Israel keep giving water to neighbors?"
• "Berkefeld supplies water technology for Alstom power plant in Algeria"
• "Water desalination capacity up in North Africa with ERI PX technology"
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REGIONAL:
'Regional Water Cooperation and Peacebuilding in Middle East' report released
BRUSSELS, Belgium, Feb. 9, 2009 -- In the semi-arid to arid climatic conditions of the Middle East, water resources management is a contentious issue between parties sharing the same water resources. On the other hand, solving water problems has been identified as a topic of common interest to Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians. The implementation of joint water-related projects is therefore seen as a hopeful sign and related projects have received substantial funding from the international donor community, especially the USA and EU.
This case study seeks to deepen the understanding of how the peacebuilding effects of regional water cooperation can best be harnessed, supported and sustained. It analyses two existing initiatives involving Jordanians, Israelis and Palestinians: the Good Water Neighbors project and the Regional Water Data Banks Project. The case analysis focusses on the design and implementation of cooperative processes, as both the form and content of cooperation are critical for peacebuilding. Building on the analysis of the two cases, as well as on broader knowledge on water cooperation, the report concludes with recommendations for funding agencies and third parties.
This case study has been prepared by Adelphi Research within the framework of the EU-funded (Initiative for Peacebuilding). The full report can be reached by clicking here [PDF].
ABU DHABI:
Abu Dhabi's Policy Reversal Shows the Way
UAE, Jan. 25, 2009 (MEED) -- Abu Dhabi, which once led the way with privatisation, could now lead the way on nationalisation. The last long-term debt financing deal to be done in the Gulf is now a distant memory. The economic slowdown has meant that no project has succeeded in raising conventional project finance since the Ras Laffan C independent water and power (IWPP) project in August 2008. With banks reluctant to fully underwrite deals, utility firms and developers have been forced to act pragmatically to guarantee that their projects go ahead. Abu Dhabi Electricity & Water Authority (Adwea), perhaps more than any other utility, has demonstrated that it is prepared to do what it takes to keep its schemes on track. Developers on the Shuweihat 2 IWPP and two Abu Dhabi wastewater projects have been given time to put in place bridging loans to cover the initial stages of their projects. But if they fail to raise long-term finance before the loans mature, Adwea says it will take full owner-ship of the schemes...
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Siemens Financial Services Presents 'Green Financing' for Infrastructure Projects
-- Financial solutions to support implementation of efficient technologies in the energy sector --
UAE, Jan. 20, 2009 -- Customized financial solutions play an increasingly important role in the implementation of efficient technologies in the energy sector. According to estimates of Siemens Financial Services (SFS), roughly €2,700 bn will have to be invested in energy projects worldwide over the next 20 years. The steep increase in financing costs resulting from the global credit crisis has made customized financing solutions a key success factor in the realization of necessary investments: For example, intelligent financial solutions can help exploit the cost advantages derived from the use of green energy technologies to afford the necessary investments. At the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Siemens presents itself as one of the global leaders in the field of climate-friendly technologies and the only provider of solutions covering the entire value chain of energy conversion from generation to consumption. SFS experts describe key financing challenges in the current, turbulent market environment. For example, the company has invested in the Masdar Clean Tech Fund I, and projects such as the construction of the water desalination plant Shuaibah in Saudi Arabia with a project volume to be financed of about €2.5 bn have benefited from SFS project financing solutions...
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GDF SUEZ Secures Financing for Shuweihat 2 Project
UAE, Jan. 7, 2009 (AMEInfo.com) -- GDF SUEZ Energy International and its partner Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) secured a $900m financing facility for Shuweihat 2. The lenders to the deal include Bayern LB, Calyon, KfW, Natixis, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard Chartered. Additionally Shuweihat 2 issued a Notice to Proceed on December 11, 2008 for the construction work on the power generation and seawater desalination project in Abu Dhabi, where completion and start-up of the plant is scheduled for 2011. The EPC contractor consortium comprises of Siemens, Doosan and Samsung. GDF SUEZ owns 40% of Shuweihat 2, with the remaining 60% owned by Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA). An affiliate of ADWEA, the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Company (ADWEC) is the sole off-taker of the output in the plant, as stipulated in the 25-year Power and Water Purchase Agreeement...
SAUDI ARABIA:
Flowserve Signs Valve Manufacturing Joint Venture with S&A Abahsain Co. Ltd.
-- Agreement expands relationship between two companies --
DALLAS, Texas, USA, Feb. 24, 2009 -- Flowserve Corp. announced the signing of a joint venture agreement with S&A Abahsain Co. Ltd., a diverse Saudi Arabian business entity, spanning industry, trading, construction, real estate and services. Building on existing joint ventures with the Flowserve Pump and Seal divisions, Abahsain and Flowserve have expanded their relationship to include the manufacturing of control valves, ball valves, plug valves, butterfly valves, and electric and pneumatic actuators for the oil and gas, petrochemical, power and water industries...
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First Private Desalination Plant in Jeddah
JEDDAH, Feb. 19, 2009 (The Saudi Gazette) -- The Jeddah Mayoralty has given the go-ahead for the construction of the first private sector desalination plant in the Kingdom. The plant, which will cover an area of 22,000 sq. m. of Jeddah's southern Corniche, will be entirely funded by a private company. According to Nabeel Mufti, Head of Investment Dept at the Mayoralty, 25% of the project land area will be reserved for the desalination plant and its facilities, with the same space reserved for gardens. The contract with the unnamed company also obliges it to construct a reservoir with a capacity of 20.000 cu m. and a parking lot for water tanker trucks along with a number of other facilities...
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Chinese, Saudi Firms Team on Global Desal, Power Projects
-- Duo already has two projects in the works in the Gulf region but is keeping mum on details --
SHANGHAI, China, Feb. 12, 2009 -- Chinese electric power giant Shanghai Electric Power Generation Group and Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power International said they plan to team up to develop power and desalination projects around the globe. Shanghai Electric Power Group, a division of Shanghai Electric, manufactures power generation equipment. Shares of Shanghai Electric closed up 10% today. ACWA Power International, short for International Company for Water and Power Projects, launched in October with initial capital of SR2.92 billion ($780 million) to develop, own and operate seawater desalination and power generation projects in Asia, Middle East and Africa. The company is majority owned by privately held ACWA Power Development, which has a portfolio of six desalination and power plants that by 2010 are expected to have 4,855 MW of power-generating capacity and generate 2.23 million m³ of water per day in Saudi Arabia...
QATAR:
Environmental Impact of Seawater Use in Industry Discussed at Conference
DOHA, Feb. 19, 2009 (The Peninsula) -- The environmental impact of the use of seawater in industrial cooling as well as discharges from desalination and power plants to the Gulf waters were discussed at an international conference held here yesterday. The second international seawater conference, held under the patronage of the Ministry of Environment featured presentations by experts from Qatar, the UK, US, the Netherlands, India, World Bank and several GCC countries. Giving a presentation on discharges from desalination and power plants, Thomas Hoepner said, there is an urgent need for a standard of ecological impact assessments and a supra-national coordination of the water and electricity grids, which are currently lacking in the region. The total loads of the main chemical discharges in to the sea from desalination plants in the region per day amount to 66,000kg of antiscalants, 24,000 kg of chlorine, and 300kg of copper...
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Kahramaa Signs Contracts for Six Water Projects worth QR2.62bn
DOHA, Jan. 23, 2009 (The Peninsula) -- The Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) yesterday awarded six water project contracts worth QR2.62bn. The projects are meant for the expansion of water distribution mains in various areas including West Bay, upgrading pumping stations, and enhancing transmission networks in order to meet the increasing demand for water and meet customers' current and future needs. The six water project contracts which fall under Phase 9 of Kahramaa's expansion plan include a contract worth QR517.08m for headwork construction at West Bay, Umm Salal, and Al-Khor water stations which was awarded to Chinese Sinohydro GTC, a contract awarded to Hamad Bin Khalid Trading & Contracting Company worth QR456.7m for the construction of Musaimer Reservoir and Pumping Station (RPS), a contract worth QR 420.9m awarded to Borhan International Construction Company. The other contracts were awarded respectively to Bom Construction Company worth QR380.7m for the extension of distribution network at Doha and its vicinity, Binaa Qatari Company worth QR473.1m for headwork construction at old Airport, Saiwa, Southwest Doha, and Messaieed and to Waha Company worth QR377.5m for design, supply, and construction of south Doha reservoirs and associated pipelines...
OMAN:
G-77 Ministerial Forum on Water Wrapped in Oman
MUSCAT, Feb 25, 2009 (Kuwait News Agency) -- The activities of the Ministerial Forum on Water of the Group of 77 (G-77) adopted recommendations on Wednesday on boosting cooperation among the countries of the South in the field of water conservancy. Participants in the just-ended forum agreed on exchanging technical expertise, enhancing scientific and technological cooperation in the domains of water resource management, and developing desalination and sanitation projects in the member countries. The forum outlined plans for improving access to safe drinkable water and irrigation water, expanding the sanitary drainage systems, enhancing the hydropower projects with a view to achieving sustainable development and alleviating poverty. Despite progress made by the G-77 member countries towards providing larger numbers of their citizens with safe drinkable water and proper sanitary drainage services, these countries are sill far from the set targets and UN Millennium Development Goals, the conferees noted. Insufficient funds and inefficient management constitute the main obstacles facing the G-77 member countries in this domain, they agreed...
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Water Supply Project to Khabourah Launched
AL KHABOURAH, Feb. 19, 2009 (Oman Daily Observer) -- A project to supply water to the Wilayat of Al Khabourah was launched yesterday under the auspices of Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed al Issa'ee, Chairman of the Majlis Ash'shura. Speaking on the occasion, Mohammed bin Abdullah al Mahruqi, chief of Public Authority for Water and Electricity, said the project was part of the government's policy to provide essential services to every part of the Sultanate. The RO 9.6 million project will supply potable water from the desalination plant at Sohar Industrial Port. It involved the construction of two overhead tanks each with a storage capacity of 1,500 m³ and a third 2,000-m³ concrete tank...
EGYPT:
EU Investments in Egypt include €295M Toward Improved Water, Wastewater Services
CAIRO, Feb. 22, 2009 (Al Ahram Weekly) -- A package worth €149 million, representing funds pledged within the 2008 Annual Action Programme under the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), is being made available to Egypt. Under the ENPI, a package of €558 million of financial support will be given to Egypt between 2007 and 2010. The focus of the programmes financed under the 2008 package will be on education, reforms in the transport sector, improvement of water and waste water services and support for civil society. A further €80 million will go to supporting reforms in the transport sector covering administrative, regulatory and legal issues in the land, rail and inland waterway sectors. The overall aim of the reforms is to improve access and quality of transport. In addition, €20 million will be provided to reinforce the European Commission's ongoing €120 million education sector support programme...
JORDAN:
Jordan's Fossil Water Source Has High Radiation Levels
DURHAM, North Carolina, USA, Feb. 24, 2009 (Duke University News) -- Ancient groundwater being tapped by Jordan, one of the 10 most water-deprived nations in the world, has been found to contain twenty times the radiation considered safe for drinking water in a new study by an international team of researchers. "The combined activities of 228 radium and 226 radium -- the two long-lived isotopes of radium -- in the groundwater we tested are up to 2000% higher than international drinking standards," said Avner Vengosh, associate professor of earth and ocean sciences in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. Making the water safe for long-term human consumption is possible, he said, but it will require extra steps to reduce its radioactivity. Vengosh and his research team, made up of scientists from Jordan, Palestine, Israel and the United States, published their findings Feb. 19 in a paper in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology. The paper can be reached online by clicking here...
GAZA:
GPM to Set Up Fund for Gaza Reconstruction Effort
-- Desalination plant proposed --
PETALING JAYA, Malaysia, Feb. 18, 2009 (Bernama) -- Global Peace Mission Malaysia (GPM), an international relief and evelopment agency, will set up a special fund for the reconstruction effort in Gaza, Palestine, which came under heavy bombardment by Israel last month. Its president Muhammad Nor Anuar Hashim said the fund was to bear the cost of building desalination plants, boring of wells and and a bakery. "Although many parties are providing immediate relief effort to war-torn Gaza, we must also help the people in terms of the future," he told a press conference here today. He added that two survey teams sent by GPM to Gaza recently found the people there were in dire need of the above...
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Fear that Sewage May Contaminate Drinking Water
GAZA CITY, Jan. 29, 2009 (IRIN) -- With Gaza's sewerage system on the verge of collapse, a top water engineer has warned of the risk of groundwater contamination in the enclave, making clean water scarcer than it already is. Gaza is particularly vulnerable to groundwater contamination since its sandy desert soil easily absorbs water - or sewage from leaking sewage pipes. Compounding the risk is the fact that groundwater is relatively near the surface, and wells dug to access it tend to be shallow. The aging, ill-maintained and unsafe sewerage system has suffered from an acute lack of investment. At least one waste water treatment plant at Sheikh Ajleen is also poorly sited, in a flat and sandy area, increasing the risk that sewage could seep into the water table. Many pipes were damaged by the Israeli bombardment, meaning that when water is delivered under pressure to houses, the damaged pipes suck in air and possibly sewage, according to Majed Ghannam, the water quality manager at the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), Gaza's water utility...
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Gaza Sewage Lagoons Could Collapse, Water Authority Says
JERUSALEM, Jan. 13, 2009 (IRIN) -- The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) is concerned that waste water lagoons in the northern Gaza Strip could collapse due to the current fighting between Israel and Hamas. "With Israel's latest bombardment, there is a real risk that earth retention walls of a number of wastewater lagoons will break, releasing an estimated 3 million m³ of wastewater into the surrounding communities," said Shaddad Attili, head of the PWA, in a statement on 12 January. Attili said a lagoon collapsed in 2007 killing five people and displacing hundreds of families. Majeda Alawneh, a spokeswoman for the PWA, told IRIN three of her staff in Gaza had been killed in the Israeli offensive which began on Dec. 27. One shell had hit a lagoon with a weak retaining wall, supported by sand, and the PWA was concerned the damage might cause a collapse, she said. The Coastal Municipalities Water Utilities (CMWU), Gaza's main water agency, said it had received unconfirmed reports that 200,000 m³ of wastewater had leaked from the Gaza City treatment plant after an embankment sustained damage during the fighting...
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ISRAEL:
Should Israel Keep Giving Water to Neighbors?
-- Despite drought and impending water crisis, Jewish state continues to uphold agreements according to which it must provide 85 million m³ of water to Jordan, West Bank, Gaza, and has even supplied more than required --
JERUSALEUM, March 6, 2009 (Ynet) -- The State of Israel is on the brink of a water crisis, but according to agreements signed by the State, it is required to transfer significant amounts of water to Jordan and the Palestinians. According to a position paper filed by the Foreign Ministry to the State commission of inquiry on the water crisis, Israel has even been transferring larger amounts of water to its neighbors than required in the agreement. In accordance with Israel's peace agreement with Jordan, Israel provides its neighbor to the east with 35 million m³ of water per year. In addition, Jordan has the right to ask Israel to pump 20 million m³ of flood water from the Yarmouk River per year. Israel is meant to keep the water and transfer it to Jordan in the summer. Due to low precipitation and Syrian over-pumping of water from the river's sources, Israel finds it difficult to come up with the required 20 million m³ of water. Despite this, Israel was able to provide the full amount to the Jordanian minister of water and irrigation last year. Foreign Ministry sources said similar demands were made in the prior drought years of 2007 and 2005, and Israel's willingness to supply the water despite difficulties has contributed to strengthening the ties between the two countries...
ALGERIA:
Berkefeld Supplies Water Technology for Alstom Power Plant in Algeria
-- Clean water technology in gas turbine power plant --
CELLE, Germany, Dec. 15, 2008 -- The water technology company Berkefeld, part of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, delivered a water treatment plant for a new gas turbine power plant being built in Algeria by Alstom. Supplied were a full-desalination installation with an output of 320 m³/h and a drinking and service water treatment plant that produces 3 m³/h of pure water. The start-up is planned for spring 2009. Alstom is building the power plant in Relizane, a province in the Northwest of the country.
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Water Desalination Capacity Increases in North Africa with ERI PX Technology
-- New 120,000 m³/day (31.7 million US gallons per day) SWRO plant in Algeria --
SAN LEANDRO, California, USA, Dec. 11, 2008 -- Energy Recovery Inc., a global leader of ultra-high-efficiency energy recovery products and technology for desalination, announces another large-scale energy recovery contract for seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination in Algeria. The Fouka SWRO Desalination project is designed to produce 120,000 m³/day (31.7 MGD). It is scheduled to begin operation in early 2010...
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ALSO SEE:
-- "Aconex selected for $1.6B infrastructure phase of Al Zorah Coastal City" [4 Mar 2009]
-- "CHRIST subsidiary Aqua EPC L.L.C. wins seawater desalination contract for Dubai resort" [9 Feb 2009]
-- "Zero Waste Technology appointed as exclusive representative for Bluewater Bio International" [2 Feb 2009]
-- "Veolia Water wins industrial contract in Saudi Arabia" [29 Jan 2009]
-- "CH2M Hill delivers desalinated water for UAE's Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority" [19 Jan 2009]
-- "Metito completes work on Doha International Airport wastewater treatment plant" [19 Jan 2009]
-- "Entropie wins contract for seawater desalination plant in Libya" [16 Jan 2009]
-- "Emerson opens Dubai facility, strengthens presence in Middle East" [13 Jan 2009]
-- "Black & Veatch discusses effect of global financial situation on Mid-East" [30 Dec 2008]
-- "Metito to supply Das Island with potable water" [29 Dec 2008]
-- "Mott MacDonald is Technical Adviser to the Electricity and Water Authority Bahrain" [15 Dec 2008]
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