Salini Impregilo, a specialist in the construction and civil engineering business, has won contracts worth a combined $300 million in the Gulf region and a $190 million order from the US.

On the GCC contracts, the Italian construction major said the company will build a $100-million water desalination plant through its subsidiary Fisia Italimpianti in Oman.  

The company, in consortium with Saudi-based Acwa, French water and energy management company Veolia and Dhofar International for Investment and Development Company along with joint-venture partner Spanish group Abengoa, will design and construct the plant.

The JV will use the latest reverse osmosis technology, to deliver up to 113,650 cu m of potable water a day to the southwest city of Salalah in Oman. Fisia Italimpianti has a 51 per cent stake in the new venture.

The contract, to be completed in 27 months, is the unit’s second this year, following a $255-million deal obtained in April to build a desalination plant in Saudi Arabia.

Salini Impregilo pointed out that its other big contract in the region is the $200-million deal to design and build a 5-km-long transit connection in Abu Dhabi (UAE).

It will cross two islands Umm Lafina and Al Reem to connect the Capital District with the Central Business District, which the UAE capital is building for its 2030 development plan to foster economic growth, said the statement.

Once completed in 2020, the highway between these islands will cross a mangrove reserve, where Salini Impregilo will relocate and plant double the number of mangroves expected to be lost, following the sustainability principles that it applies at all its construction sites, it added.

Salini Impregilo said these project wins highlighted the infrastructure group’s breadth and scale as well as its leadership in the water and transportation sectors.

In the US, the group’s Lane Construction unit has won two contracts in Virginia for a combined $190 million, the latest in a series of public works that not only highlights its long presence in the US but also its leadership in roadwork across the country.

The first at $105 million involves improving an interchange in Virginia Beach as part of the second phase of the I-64/I-264 Interchange Improvements project, while the second one worth $85.6 million will add a through-lane along part of eastbound I-66 in the Ballston area.-TradeArabia News Service