The purpose of the new contract won by Aqualia is the "consultancy and technical assistance to the IDAAN for the operational and commercial management in the area covering the regions of Metropolitan Panama, Western Panama and Arraiján.” The contract, supported by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), includes the undertaking of studies to improve this management, business plan, master aqueducts plan for the metropolitan area of Panama, plan for re-engineering processes and structure for the central institution and personnel training.

Aqualia's proposal was chosen as the most advantageous of those presented since it passed the technical assessment and was the most convenient from the economic point of view. Initially, the request for tenders had the participation of 14 companies. Six of these continued to the following phases – Aguas de Marubeni (Japan); ACEA (Rome, Italy) in a consortium, Empresa Pública Metropolitana de Agua y Saneamiento (Quito, Ecuador), Empresas Públicas de Medellín (Colombia) and Sociedad General Aguas de Barcelona (Suez Group, France). Finally, only three of these (ACEA, Aqualia and Aguas de Barcelona) took part in the final technical assessment phase, with Aqualia and Aguas de Barcelona exceeding the minimum required points and thus passing to the economic assessment phase where Aqualia was the chosen company.

This new adjudication was assessed by Aqualia “very positively” since it secures its presence in the Central American country and will also be a reference in a large Latin American city, a fact that will facilitate access to possible future contracts in other large urban areas.

Aqualia also underlined the fact that “a contract such as this one, the purpose of which is to advise the Panamanian public authority, recognises the leadership, experience and know-how not only of Aqualia but also of private companies specialising in water management."

During its five years’ duration, the contract will contribute $62.6 million (USD) to Aqualia's portfolio for various items including different activities called "High Impact" by the contracting organisation.

Aqualia in Panama and the LATAM area

Also in Panama, a few weeks ago the Ministry of Health chose Aqualia’s proposal for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the Arraiján East waste water treatment plant (WWTP). The project, valued at around €85 million, saw the company's entry in the Central American country. The WWTP will serve 130,000 inhabitants in the Arraiján district in the centre-west area of the province of Panama, notably improving their living conditions.

Recently, the company was also chosen to design, equip, construct, commission, operate and maintain the Guaymas desalination plant in the Mexican state of Sonora, for a total period of 20 years. The new installation will serve nearly 100,000 inhabitants.

Also in Latin America, specifically in Colombia, Aqualia was awarded the contract for the design, construction and operation of the El Salitre treatment plant, located in Bogota, in 2016. Once completed, the plant will treat a flow of more than 600,000 cubic metres of water per day (m3/day) and will serve three million persons.

Aqualia is the water management company of FCC, one of the leading public services groups in Europe. The company is the fourth private water company in Europe by population served and is among the first 10 in the world, according to the latest ranking in the specialised publication Global Water Intelligence (GWI, November 2017).

It currently serves 22.5 million users in 22 countries: Spain, Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Algeria, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Tunisia, Qatar, Oman and, in the Latin American area, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador and Panama.

In financial year 2016, the company had a turnover of €1,010 million with a business portfolio of nearly €15,000 million.

Photograph caption: (from left to right): Manuel Olivares, Director of FCC Construcción in Central America, Juan Felipe Iglesias, Director of the IDAAN, David Díez, Aqualia Country Manager and Iván Moreno, Aqualia Technical Board representative.