Egypt’s Construction Authority for Potable Water & Wastewater has issued a tender for engineering services for the estimated €233.5m ($328) expansion of the Gabal el-Asfar wastewater treatment plant.

The deadline for bids on Gabal El-Asfar stage 2, phase 2 project is 24 March. The tender is open to joint ventures or consortiums of Egyptian and international consultants.

Bidders will attend a pre-bid meeting on 8 February.

The project will add 500,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) of new treatment capacity and will be constructed on a design and build basis. The plant is scheduled to begin operating in 2014.

The new capacity will serve an additional 2.5 million people in the middle and lower parts of east Cairo.

It is estimated that in Cairo alone, 800,000 cm/d of wastewater cannot be treated as a result of insufficient capacity and, as a result, is discharged into drains.