FCC Aqualia, a leading water management company based in Europe, said it has been awarded a $320-million contract to design, build and operate the Abu Rawash wasterwater treatment plant in Cairo, Egypt.

A unit of global environment, water and infrastructure works specialist FCC, the company said this contract is the largest-of-its-kind undertaken abroad. The project will be delivered in collaboration with FCC Construcción.

It is part of the ambitious programme for water and sewerage actions by Egypt's government and has the backing of the African Development Bank, a multilateral organisation the purpose of which is to finance development projects on the African continent, said a statement from FCC Aqualia.

The Abu Rawash plant, one of the largest wasterwater treatment plants in the world, will treat 1.6 million cu m daily and serve more than six million people.

The DBO (design, build and operate) contract, which includes a three-year operation and maintenance period, was signed by Hassan El Far, CAPW Chairman (Construction Authority for Potable Water and Wastewater), Luis de Lope, FCC Aqualia’s International Director and Maged Abadir, Orascom Chief Operations Officer (the company which completes the consortium alongside FCC Aqualia) in the presence of Prime Minister Sherif IsmaiI.

Although the initial agreement with the Egyptian government included a concession for 20 years (including financing), the economic situation in Egypt made it advisable for the investment in the project to be assumed entirely by the Egyptian state, abandoning the original idea of a concession type contract, said the statement.

FCC Aqualia said the scope of the work includes the enlargement of the existing primary treatment plant from 1.2 million cu m/day to 1.6 million cu m/day and the addition of biological treatment.

This is the third major project undertaken by the firm in Egypt after it was chosen in 2010 to design, build, finance and operate for 20 years the New Cairo wastewater treatment plant.

Last year, the Egyptian Ministry of Defence awarded FCC Aqualia the project for the El Alamein desalination plant. Located on the Mediterranean coast in an area of growing tourist development, the plant will treat 150,000 cu m/day.

As a company specialising in the design, building and operation of all types of water and sewerage infrastructure, FCC Aqualia operates 445 treatment plants and 33 desalination plants on four continents.-TradeArabia News Service