Business | Construction
Nakheel awards Dh1b contract to Palm Water
Palm Water LLC, a new utility company, has been awarded a Dh1 billion contract by Nakheel to design, build, own and operate (DBOO) a sewage treatment plant as well as sewage and irrigation networks that service the latter's development at International City, Dubai.
- By Saifur Rahman, Business News Editor
- Published: 00:00 September 26, 2006
Dubai: Palm Water LLC, a new utility company, has been awarded a Dh1 billion contract by Nakheel to design, build, own and operate (DBOO) a sewage treatment plant as well as sewage and irrigation networks that service the latter's development at International City, Dubai.
This takes the year-old company's order book to Dh1.37 billion. It is currently in the final phase of negotiations with Nakheel for a second project on the Palm Jumeirah Island's crescent.
As part of the award, Palm Water LLC will be granted a 30-year concession to provide both sewage and irrigation services on behalf of Nakheel.
The sewage treatment plant set to be among the largest Membrane BioReactor (MBR) -based plants in the Middle East is expected to have a capacity to treat about 110,000 m3 of sewage each day, nearly the same amount of high quality irrigation water. Planned as a part of the development, the plant will use state-of-the-art technology and easily blend with the surrounding environment.
Technology
Palm Water is 95 per cent owned by Istithmar while the rest is owned by Singapore-based Hi-flux.
Robert M. Bryniak, CEO, Palm Water, said, "It represents one of the first contracts awarded in the sewerage business to a privately owned company in Dubai on a DBOO basis."
Bryniak said Palm Water will employ Membrane BioReactor or MBR technology that will result in an extremely high grade of treated sewage effluent that can be safely used for irrigation purposes throughout the development at International City.
"We will maintain the same sewage charges levied by Dubai Municipality. We are currently in talks with Dubai Municipality with our billing system for the residents of the International City," he told Gulf News.
The sewage treatment plant will be constructed in phases, with the first phase going on stream in late 2007. One of the unique elements of the project is that Palm Water will be supplying Palm District Cooling with make-up water for its cooling plants. This, in turn, will provide low-cost district cooling to residents in Phase 2 and Phase 3 phases at International City.
The scope of the contract includes designing, supplying, constructing, owning, operating and maintaining the sewage treatment plant.
It also covers the owning, operating and maintaining of the pumping station and tanks.
The existing sewerage, irrigation networks and collection systems will be transferred to Palm Water and all future enhancements will be implemented and maintained by the company over the next 30 years. Networks and collection systems being developed by others at Phases 2 and 3 at International City will be purchased by Palm Water when completed and maintained by the company during the concession period.
Insight
Who's involved in the project?
-- International companies are expected to be involved in the design, construction and operation of the sewage treatment plant.
-- MWH is providing Palm Water with technical support for the project while Allen & Overy is the legal counsel and HSBC is the lead financial arranger.
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