Hitachi, Veolia and ArabCo consortium wins $223m EPC contract for Iraq desalination plant

A consortium of Japan’s Hitachi, French company Veolia and Egyptian engineering firm ArabCo has won a JPY24bn ($223m) order from the Iraqi Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works for construction of pretreatment facilities at a desalination plant in Basrah.

As per the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, development works for the facility are set to start in October 2014, which are likely to be completed by April 2017.

The deal for the pretreatment facilities includes works for surrounding facilities, such as the river water intake facilities and water transport facilities.

The Government of Japan has offered loan assistance for the construction of the facilities.

The deal follows a previous EPC order and a five-year order and maintenance (O&M) deal for the Basrah plant, awarded to the consortium in January this year.

Out of the entire contract value awarded to the consortium, Hitachi and Veolia will have a share of JPY10bn ($100m).

The desalination plant, once operational, will supply 199,000m³ of potable water daily after reducing the salt content of river water through reverse osmosis (RO).

Veolia global enterprises senior executive vice-president Jean-Michel Herrewyn said: "This plant, which combines pretreatment, high-level membrane filtration and desalination, will significantly improve the quality of drinking water provided to the city of Basrah and will eliminate spikes in salinity caused by tides and winds.

"Veolia is committed to developing access to resources and delivering reliable solutions to help cities deal with water scarcity while pursuing their economic development."

Hitachi Infrastructure Systems vice-president, executive officer, president and CEO Kunizo Sakai said: "Hitachi is honoured to be involved in the construction of the desalination plant and the preprocessing facilities in Basrah in collaboration with Veolia and ArabCo.

"Hitachi has an extensive track record and expertise in the delivery of water treatment plants throughout the world, and we look forward to contributing to the maintenance and improvement of the water environment in Iraq by putting in place reliable water infrastructures."