The Algerian state company, Algerian Energy Company (AEC), has awarded the consortium composed of FCC (50%) and INIMA a 25-year contract to design, build and manage a new seawater desalination plant in Algeria. The expected revenues from this contract amount to 585 million euros.

The project will require an investment of 100 million euros and will be executed in 20 months. The management period and recovery of the investment will commence once the construction work is complete.

The desalination plant will be located in the Cap Djinet region of Algeria near Algiers and is the second one this consortium has been awarded in Algeria. The first contract of this type awarded was in Mostagamen, near Oran, awarded on 18th. of this month, requiring an investment of 84 million euros and an execution period of 20 months.

The plant was designed by Aqualia and SPA, FCC subsidiaries specialising in the treatment, purification and desalination of water, and by INIMA, an OHL subsidiary that specialises in environmental management. The most highly advanced industrial technologies in seawater salination plants using inverse osmosis will be employed.

The desalination plant will guarantee the water supply to the entire province. The plant will have four treatment lines with a treatment capacity of 25,000 m3/day each, for a total production of 100,000 m3 of drinking water per day, ready to be supplied to a population of more than 500,000 inhabitants in Algiers and the surrounding area.

Inverse osmosis is the most energy-efficient system, with an energy consumption level of just 3.7 kW/hour per cubic metre of desalinated water.

The project includes the execution of marine works consisting of a seawater intake measuring 1.8 kilometres long and a 900 metre long underwater outfall.

The plant is part of a broader programme for the construction of desalination plants drawn up by the Algerian government to reach a daily desalination capacity of 1,050,000 m3 over the next three years. This new award makes a total of 200,000 m3 per day awarded to the consortium formed by FCC and INIMA.

The contract was awarded in a process in which three other top Spanish and multinational companies in the sector participated.

Aqualia operates in more than 700 municipalities throughout Spain, with revenues of nearly 550 million euros, a portfolio of 5,500 million and 15% annual growth. It has participated in the construction of 12 desalination plants which produce a total of 28.3 Hm3 of water each year.

It currently participates in the operation of 10 desalination plants in Spain, including those located in Ibiza, San Antonio (Ibiza), La Tordera (Barcelona), Denia (Alicante) and Cabo de Gata (Almería). The annual production volume of these desalination plants is 23.78 Hm3 of water per year.