Gulf wastewater: A regional projects guide

Total wastewater treatment capacity in the GCC is about 4.2 million cubic metres a day (cm/d), a figure that needs to rise to 9.7 million cm/d by 2015 to meet demand. Saudi Arabia alone will need 2.2 million cm/d of new treatment capacity in the next five years. 

After 12 months of slow progress in the sector, when governments delayed tendering schemes in an attempt to ride out the worst of the financial crisis, wastewater projects across the Gulf are making progress.

In November, the UK’s Atkins signed a wastewater masterplan contract with Kuwait’s Public Works Ministry to deliver a study on the country’s sewage network upgrade. In January 2010, the deadline closes for bids on Bahrain’s Muharraq wastewater treatment plant – the project had been delayed by the global financial crisis. And in Qatar, the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) is evaluating technical bids for a contract to expand the Doha South plant.

In the UAE, Abu Dhabi is pressing ahead with its ambitious plans to expand its wastewater networks. Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company has issued two tenders for the construction of 137 kilometres of gravity sewers, with contract awards expected soon. 

While the financial crisis may have temporarily derailed plans to make greater use of private finance on wastewater projects, the easing in the project finance market should make the wastewater treatment sector far more appealing to private investors.

With $15bn in spending on wastewater treatment capacity planned for the next five years, the GCC states’ plans represent a major business opportunity for contractors, engineers and specialist water technology companies alike.