The Board of Contracts at the Santander City Council has proposed that Aqualia, a filial of FCC, be awarded the tender for the management of the water supply in the city for the next 25 years. This means a business portfolio of 725 million euros.

This agreement with the Board of Contracts must be ratified by the Council on next Monday, 27th.

Santander has a stable population of 184.000 inhabitants, which rises to 250.000 in the Summer and will receive a water supply of around 30 million cubic metres per year.

Aqualia will pay an initial canon of 69 million euros for this concession and an annual canon which will be entirely assigned to the Concession Investment Plan, which will amount in total to 106 million euros. Moreover, the company will carry out further investments to the amount of 26 million euros.

This Investment Plan will go towards the construction of new deposits, refurbishment and the enlargement of the drinking water treatment centre and the renovation of networks and improvements in the drains system.

Aqualia has signed an agreement with the University of Cantabria to conduct a continuous follow-up of the quality of the water; a customer service phone centre will be set up and a digitalized map system of the whole network will be elaborated so as to facilitate the search and detection of leakage.

Aqualia offers services related to the whole water cycle and supplies overall solutions for the needs of local administration, industry and private users.

This company is the leading company in Spain and its activities centre upon the management, operation and maintenance of the public services of supply, sanitation and purification of water on the basis of a very professional model of customer relations which is at once close and transparent.

The company is present in some 700 municipalities and caters for a population of over 11,000,000 inhabitants throughout Spain and more than 13,000,000 abroad. Among these locations Oviedo, Vigo, Salamanca, Ávila, Mérida, Valdepeñas (Ciudad Real), Hellín (Albacete), Lleida, en la Isla de Ibiza, Denia y Alcoi (Alicante), Jaén, Algeciras (Cádiz), Nerja (Málaga) Puente Genil (Córdoba), Almería and Badajoz can be mentioned.

In the Cantabrian Community they are present in Torrelavega, Reinosa, Santa Cruz de Bezana, Cabezón de la Sal and Corvera de Toranzo.