Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company (ADSSC) has awarded a contract to manage the sewage and water treatment system in Al-Ain to Aqualia, a subsidiary of Spain’s FCC, and the local Mechanical & Civil Engineering Contractors Company (Mace).

The contract will run for seven years and is worth about €76.3m ($100.7m). Aqualia and Mace will take over the management of the system on 1 March. It includes the operation and maintenance of more than 2,400 kilometres of sewers, 68 wastewater pumping stations and 19 wastewater treatment plants in the city of Al-Ain.

It includes the operation and maintenance of more than 2,400 kilometres of sewers in Al-Ain

The contract includes the maintenance of all wastewater treatment plants in Al-Ain except the UAE’s two first independent wastewater treatment projects. The Al-Saad and Al-Wathba wastewater projects have recently been commissioned.

Bids for the water management contract were also received on 27 July 2011 from Kuwait’s Kharafi National, the local Emirates Link with Qatar’s Nitco and the local Tamas Projects with the US’ Aquatech.

This is the first water management contract to be awarded to a Spanish company in the UAE. Aqualia won another contract for water management services in Saudi Arabia last year (MEED 2:3:11).

Saudi Arabia’s National Water Company (NWC) awarded the contract to manage water leaks in Riyadh. The two-year water management contract, which was worth €27m, was signed on 28 February 2011.