The Government of Qatar’s Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has commissioned Suez Environnement through its subsidiary Degrémont, in consortium with its Japanese partner Marubeni Corporation, to expand the Doha West wastewater treatment and recycling plant.

The total contract is worth €178 million ($222 million), €94 million ($117.3 million) of which is for Suez Environnement.

This expansion will increase the plant’s treatment capacity by an additional 105,000 cu m per day to 280,000 cu m per day. Over the term of the contract, the plant will be able to manage the wastewater of 1,040,000 population equivalent from Doha city.

This project follows the two contracts signed in 2005 for the design, construction and 10-year operation of a 135,000 cu m per day plant, and then in 2011 for its first expansion to 175,000 cu m per day to serve a population estimated at 650,000 inhabitants.

Located 20 km west of Doha, the plant has been in operation since March 2010, the 2011 expansion was completed in late 2012, and Suez Environnement will oversee the plant’s operation until 2020.

”We are proud of Ashghal’s renewed trust for this Doha West plant expansion after having built the two prior ones. This new contract acknowledges our capacity to offer, deliver and then operate efficient facilities tailored to the local challenges of population growth and protection of resources,” stated Rémi Lantier, CEO of Degrémont.

To meet the requirements of Doha’s increasing population, Ashghal essentially chose the same technologies that have already been put in place and proven effective: expansion of the secondary biologic treatment, and expansion of the tertiary treatment which implements ultrafiltration membranes and the Smartrack system, thus allowing re-use of the treated water to irrigate green spaces, market gardens, and to replenish groundwater.

This contract strengthens the presence of Suez Environnement in Qatar where it also designed and built waste water treatment facilities for Barwa City (50,000 inhabitants) and Lusail (250,000 inhabitants), which use treated water to re-vegetate desert parcels of land and, over time, to maintain green spaces throughout the artificial Pearl Island, a statement said. – TradeArabia News Service