A consortium led by Spain’s FCC Aqualia has been awarded a contract to provide operation and maintenance (O&M) services for two wastewater treatment plants in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

The Spanish firm, in consortium with the local Al-Khorayef Water & Power Company, will provide O&M services for the Hadda and Arana treatment plants, which have a combined average flow of 250,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) and a maximum treatment capacity of 375,000 cm/d. The three-year contract will have a total value of about $22m.

Saudi Arabia has the largest wastewater and water supply programme in the Gulf with the National Water Company (NWC), the main government body responsible for the sector, planning to spend a total of SR249bn ($66.4bn) on the sectors in the period 2011-20.