A joint consortium of Hitachi and Veolia Environnement, together with Egyptian engineering firm ArabCo, has today announced a €70 million contract award from the Iraqi Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works for a water desalination plant in Basrah, Iraq.

The contract covers the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of pretreatment facilities and surrounding facilities (river water intake facilities, and water transport facilities) at a water desalination plant in Basrah, Iraq.

Total value of the order will about €170 million, €70 million of which will cover the work by Hitachi and Veolia. Construction is scheduled to begin in October 2014, with completion scheduled for April 2017.

In January 2014 the consortium received a comprehensive order for EPC on the water desalination plant as well as operation and maintenance (O&M) for a period of five years. The new pretreatment facilities represent an additional project following up on the order in January. The construction of the facilities will be undertaken with loan assistance from the Japanese government.

The desalination plant that is currently scheduled for construction in Basrah will be the largest facility of its kind in Iraq, capable of supplying 199,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day. It will use reverse osmosis (RO) to reduce the salt content in water drawn from a river near the river’s mouth, where the salt concentration is high.

The new pretreatment facilities covered by the additional order received by the three companies are coagulation-sedimentation facilities, which will undertake pretreatment of water to be processed at the desalination plant. In addition, the consortium will also install surrounding facilities, which are river water intake facilities and water transport facilities.

Hitachi and Veolia will be responsible for the design, delivery, and test operation of mechanical and electrical facilities, and ArabCo will be responsible for civil engineering, construction, and on-site installation work.

Mr. Kunizo Sakai, Vice President and Executive Officer and President & CEO of Hitachi’s Infrastructure Systems Company said:

 “Hitachi is honored 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.”

Jean-Michel Herrewyn, Senior Executive Vice President, Global Enterprises, Veolia added that the  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.

Hitachi and Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies SA, a subsidiary of Veolia, have completed a partnership regarding collaborations in water infrastructure projects overseas. Both companies will use the framework to promote participation in water infrastructure projects, which are expected to be the target of increasing demand in the future, particularly in emerging countries.