Austria’s Wabag has been awarded two contracts worth a total of €6m ($12m) for water projects in Tunisia.

 For the first project, the firm will design and build the 14,000 cubic-metre-a-day (cm/d) Gafsa wastewater treatment plant. The facility will be designed to utilise biogas produced from the sludge process to produce electricity in two combined heat and power plants.

 For the second scheme, Wabag will build a drinking water treatment plant at the northern town of Bizerte. The plant will treat 12,100 cm/d of water from a nearby reservoir. It is scheduled to become operational in the summer of 2015.

The projects are part of Tunisia’s efforts to upgrade and expand its water infrastructure. In March, the Washington-based World Bank announced it is planning to give $1.2bn of aid to Tunisia to be used for government reform, creating jobs, promoting trade and improving infrastructure in the country. Part of the loan will be given to the National Water Authority to build a pumping station in Tunis.