Redal, led by Spain's Dragados, with Electricidad de Portugal (EDP), Portuguese investment bank Pleiadeand the local engineering company Alborada, was awarded the 30-year contract, estimated at Eur 6,000 million ($5,188 million) in May 1998. The project called for a total investment of $1,370 million in the power, water and wastewater systems of the Greater Rabat area, which has around 1.7 million inhabitants (MEED 22:5:98).

An official from the French water giant confirmed that Vivendi is talking to Redal members, and that the company was keen to develop its activities in Morocco. However, she told MEED that it was too early to comment on the precise nature of the discussions. Neither Vivendi, nor officials from Dragados or EDP, could confirm Spanish press reports that Vivendi's initial offer proposed a cash payment of Eur 42 million ($37.6 million) to the three Iberian stakeholders, and that the French company would also assume the estimated $1,200 million investment commitment for the project.

At the end of last year, Vivendi secured a 25-year concession for the supply of utility services in the northern coastal cities of Tangiers and Tetouan. The company has already started work on studies for an estimated MD 7,600 million ($663 million) investment programme (MEED 11:1:02).