Water. desalination + reuse

BUSINESS | 16 | Desalination & Water Reuse | November-December 2014 coRpoRate chaNges HItacHI aNd VEolIa dUo wINS US$ 240 mIllIoN Iraq prEtrEatmENt coNtract A consortium of Japanese and French industrial giants Hitachi, and Veolia Environnement, alongside Egyptian engineering firm, ArabCo, have won a ¥ 24 billion (US$ 240 million) order from the Iraqi government to build pretreatment facilities at a desalination plant in Basrah, Iraq. The engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract value is split between the consortium and ArabCo with ¥ 10 billion (US$ 100 million) going to Hitachi and Veolia. Construction is scheduled to begin in October 2014, with completion scheduled for April 2017. The pretreatment facilities include surrounding river water intake facilities and water transport networks. The Japanese government has provided loan assistance for their construction. The contract – awarded by Iraq's Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works – is an addition to an earlier EPC and five-year operation and maintenance deal, won by the Franco-Japanese consortium, for the Basrah plant. The plant EPC was awarded in January this year. The Basrah reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plant will be the largest facility of its kind in Iraq, capable of supplying drinking water at 199,000 m 3 /d. It will use RO to desalt brackish water drawn from a river estuary. The facilities covered by the additional order won by ArabCo, Hitachi, and Veolia –through its OTV subsidiary – will provide coagulation and sedimentation pretreatment. The consortium will be responsible for the river water intake and water transport facilities. It will be responsible for the design, delivery, and testing of mechanical and electrical facilities. ArabCo will be responsible for civil engineering, construction, and on-site installation work. Vice president and chief executive officer of Hitachi's Infrastructure Systems, Kunizo Sakai, said: "We look forward to contributing to the maintenance and improvement of the water environment in Iraq by putting in place reliable water infrastructures." Veolia's senior executive vice president, global enterprises, Jean- Michel Herrewyn, said: "This plant 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 subsidiary, Veolia Water Solutions and Technologies, signed a partnership to collaborate in water infrastructure projects overseas. Both companies said they anticipate growing demand for water infrastructure projects in the future, particularly in emerging countries. malaySIa'S malakoff EyES dESalINatIoN IN gloBal adVaNcE Malakoff Corporation's operation and maintenance (O&M) arm, Teknik Janakuasa, is looking to further expand its core business overseas with an emphasis that includes water desalination. Teknik's vice president, Rosli Abdul Hamid, said the company sought to use its established the brand name in the O&M field to win opportunities in the Middle East, South East Asia, South Asia and North Africa in particular. "We are looking at expanding in places like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. In South East Asia, we are looking to offer our services in Indonesia more aggressively. There are discussions going on in Philippines while India and Bangladesh are being pursued more closely," he said. Growth for the company will primarily come from abroad, Rosli explained, as opportunities domestically are limited to in-house business from the generation assets of Malakoff. Teknik's main O&M rival in Malaysia is the national power utility, Tenaga Nasional. Teknik began its international foray in 2006 when it was awarded an O&M contract for the Shuaibah-Phase III power and water plant in Saudi Arabia comprising a 900 MW oil-fired power plant and a 880,000 m 3 /d multi-stage flash and reverse osmosis desalination plant. In 2007, together with Hyflux of Singapore, Teknik won an O&M contract for a 200,000 m 3 /day seawater desalination plant in Algeria. Rosli would not estimate the annual revenue of Teknik's overseas operations. Rosli said the company was also focused on promoting its water technology and desalination segment in the Association of South East Asian Nations region especially in the oil and gas industry. He said desalination was new in the region. Previously listed until 2007 when it went into private ownership, Malakoff is scheduled to return to being listed on Bursa Malaysia early next year. coUrt rUlES UNItEd watEr mUSt rElEaSE dESalINatIoN SpENdINg rEcordS A recent US court ruling has forced United Water to disclose documents detailing more than half the US$ 60 million it has spent on its desalination proposal for Rockland County, New York State. The documents included the particulars of how the money was spent, including vendor invoices and limited information on project bidders. In his ruling on the documents covering about US$ 38 million, state administrative law, judge Kevin J Casutto, concluded: "The company has failed to explain how disclosure of the contested records would result in substantial competitive injury. Therefore, the contested records are not excepted from disclosure as confidential competitive information." Casutto ruled also that United's contested legal documents were not protected under attorney-client or work product privilege. Opponents have long questioned the proposed desalination plant in West Haverstraw and the costs United Water was incurring on it. The decision will setback United's plans to pass the US$ 56 million in pre-construction costs and US$ 4 million in interest payments onto customers while keeping its records of the costs confidential. United had argued the records included trade secrets, sensitive market data and confidential legal information subject to attorney- client privilege. But the judge concluded United did not prove the information could give them a competitive advantage that would characterize the data as a trade secret or that any confidentiality agreement existed with vendors. County legislative chairman and Water Resource Management Task Force member, Alden Wolfe, said the ruling was a step forward but that United was still holding back critical spending information. United's desalination project has suffered several setbacks. In May, the State Public Service Commission determined Rockland's water situation was not yet dire and recommended that the company postpone its plans to build the plant until at least 2020.

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