SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT has won  two new desalination and wastewater treatment contracts in Abu Dhabi and Oman.

The firm is to design, construct and operate the desalination plant at the new Mirfa Independent Water and Power Project in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi for a total amount of €146 million.

Degrémont, a subsidiary of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, was selected by Hyundai Engineering & Construction to build the reverse osmosis sea water desalination plant of the Mirfa Independent Water and Power Project (Mirfa IWPP) in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The Mirfa IWPP was awarded to GDF SUEZ by Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA).

The project includes a contract totalling €117 million which covers the design and construction of a reverse osmosis sea water desalination plant with a daily capacity of 140,000 m3.  The plant will be equipped with SeaDaf™ filtration technology to pre-treat the water from the Arabian Gulf, which is turbid and rich in algae, with a double reverse osmosis treatment for its desalination. It will be followed by a second contract of seven years for the RO plant’s operation and maintenance awarded to Degrémont by the Mirfa International Power & Water Company for a total amount of €29 million.

The company’s Degrémont subsidiary has also won a contract in Oman to design, build and operate a wastewater treatment plant , in a consortium with Al-Ansari Trading Entreprise LLC, a local Oman civil engineering company. The contract with the Oman water authority Haya Water is to design and operate an 18,000 m3/day capacity wastewater treatment plant in Al-Amerat. This contract, for a total amount of €50 million, in which Degrémont has a share of €25 million, has a two-year term for the operation and maintenance of the plant.

Situated in Al-Amerat, a residential suburb of the capital city Muscat, the plant will use the UltraforTM membrane bio reactor process, which is appropriate for treating urban and industrial wastewater. Following treatment, this technology produces an effluent that can meet the most stringent water standards and allows the effluents to be recycled and reused in the most sensitive environments. The treated water in the Al-Amerat wastewater treatment plant will be used for irrigation.

"We are proud to have won these two new contracts in this region which must meet the dual challenge of demographic growth and protection of its water resources. They demonstrate our capacity to offer sustainable technological solutions in response to the challenge of local water stress challenges,” commented Marie-Ange Debon, Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of the international division of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT.

The new contracts will further strengthen SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT’s position as a major player in wastewater treatment and desalination in the Middle East. Following the construction and operation of wastewater treatment plants such as As Samra (365,000 m3/day) and Wadi Ma’in (128,000 m3/day) in Jordan, Degrémont has in the past few years in Qatar completed the 4th extension of the Doha West wastewater treatment facility, as well as the plants in Barwa City and Lusail. As a global leader in reverse osmosis desalination, Degrémont has also built the desalination plants Fujeirah 1 (United Arab Emirates), Barka 2 (Oman) and Al Dur (Bahrain). More recently and in less than six months, Degrémont supplied and installed 33 modular desalination units for the treatment of brackish water in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia).