FCC, through its subsidiary Aqualia, has won the tender for water management in the urban community of Lezíria del Tajo, Portugal, for the next 40 years. This contract's business portfolio is worth a total of over 1,500 million euros.
With this contract, Aqualia has secured its first integral water management contract in Portugal, a market with great outlooks for growth, in a competition with the leading international operators.
Lezíria del Tajo is a community of nine cities and towns very near Lisbon, where Aqualia will be providing services for over 200,000 inhabitants.
The contract calls for 200 million euros in investments, 53 million of which will be coming from public funds. These investments will go towards building new facilities and improving existing facilities to optimise water resources and offer the finest in service.
Aqualia bid on the tender in a consortium with the Portuguese firm Lena, and it will be playing the operator's role in the joint venture that will be put together to implement the contract in this area of Portugal's Ribatejo region, which includes the population centres of Almeirim, Alpiarça, Benavente, Cartaxo, Chamusca, Coruche, Golega, Salvaterra de Magos and Santarém.
International Projects
Aqualia recently won a contract in Italy to manage the integral water cycle for the province of Caltanissetta for the next 30 years. This contract's business portfolio is worth 1,500 million euros. Caltanissetta, located on the island of Sicily, has 23 towns and a total population of 275,000.
Activity in Algeria is focused for the time being on the desalination business, where Aqualia was recently awarded two of the world's biggest desalination contracts. These two contracts concern the construction and operation (for 25 years) of the desalination plants at Mostaganem and Cap Djinet. Each plant will have a capacity of 100,000 cubic metres per day, and a total investment of 184 million euros will be made. These two contracts alone will mean 46 million euros per year in revenues for the company and a joint business portfolio of nearly 1,200 million euros.
In addition, Aqualia is involved in the processes to award the construction and a 25-year term operating three other desalination plants, at El Tarf, Cap Blanc and Tenes.
Aqualia is also active in the Israeli desalination sector, where it has prequalified to bid on the biggest desalination contract in history: construction and a 25-year operating term for the largest desalination plant in the world (230,000 m3/day), located in Hadera. In this process Aqualia is competing with firms of the likes of General Electric and the biggest desalination company in the world, the Israeli firm IDE. This contract would represent average annual revenues of 45 million euros and a portfolio of approximately 1,000 million euros.
Aqualia has been active in China for the last five years in the provinces of Anhui and Hunan and in Tianjin. Since 2004 it has had its own offices in Beijing. Last summer it signed a 25-year agreement to purify the waste water of Bengbu in Anhui province, located in southeast China. The anticipated investment comes to 49 million euros and the overall revenues will be about 500 million euros.
Aqualia in Spain
Aqualia, which went into business in 1990, has in the last 15 years become the second-largest Spanish water management operator and the sixth-largest water management operator in the world, growing at an annual rate of around 22%. It holds a portfolio of over 6,000 million euros, and its revenues come to around 560 million euros.
In Spain it is active in 800 cities and towns, rendering service to over 11 million inhabitants, with a 33% share of the private water management market.
The company has embarked on a process of business diversification and internationalisation, and at present it is one of the few firms capable of offering comprehensive water management services for any use, be it irrigation, industry or human consumption.
