ACCIONA wins operation and maintenance contract for Egypt’s Gabal El Asfar wastewater treatment plant

Innovation: The WWTP treats the wastewater of four million residents of Cairo and features an experimental plot of land for the agricultural use of dehydrated sludge

The State Agency that manages urban services in Cairo has awarded ACCIONA – in consortium with the local company DHCU – the operation and maintenance of Phase 1 of the Gabal El Asfar Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in the Egyptian capital, which has a total capacity of 1.5 million m³/day.

In addition to the operation and maintenance of the WWTP, the contract includes the extraction and agricultural use of sludge in the adjacent plot of land and the execution of a series of upgrades, including the installation of new gasometers, the renovation of the sludge dehydration system and the implementation of a new monitoring and supervisory control system (SCADA).

The initial duration of the contract is eight years, valued at €87.58 million, including operation, maintenance and improvement activities. In addition, it includes an additional €45 million for the execution of other upgrades and replacements in the course of the contract.

Gabal El Asfar is the largest wastewater treatment complex in Africa and the Middle East, and the third largest one in the world. Phase 1 is the oldest phase of the complex and has a water processing section that includes pretreatment, primary decantation and a conventional activated sludge process with final effluent disinfection. The sludge processing consists of a thickening phase, anaerobic digestion with biogas production and energy recovery, and sludge dehydration through belt filters.

ACCIONA will work hand in hand with DHCU, the current operator of the plant, in order to optimize the operations at the facility and modernize the processes by implementing the planned improvements. In fact, ACCIONA already built and operated Phase 2 of the complex for two years.

The WWTP treats the wastewater of four million residents of Cairo and features an experimental plot of land for the agricultural use of the dehydrated sludge. The treated water is then used for irrigation and fruit harvesting.

MAJOR PLAYER

ACCIONA is one of the most active international operators in the country and is currently in charge of the purification of water from the Nile River for its subsequent supply to Cairo and its surrounding areas.

It operates the New Cairo Drinking Water Treatment Plant (DWTP), as well as four other WWTPs for the National Authority of Potable Water and Sewage (NOPWASD), the official agency that manages water treatment in the country, at Abnoub-El Fath (80,000m³/day), Sodfa-El Ghanayem (30,000m³/day), El Ayat (30,000m³/day) and Abu Simbel (6,000m³/day).

Last year, ACCIONA completed the construction of the Bahr Al Baqr WWTP, the largest in Africa and one of the largest in the world, with a maximum capacity of 5.6 million m³/day.

ACCIONA has built another five drinking water treatment plants in the country, totaling a capacity of more than 600,000m³/day, which serve about 6 million people, including the Kattameya plant (100,000m³/day).

The company is also active in the services sector in Egypt. ACCIONA Cultura is in charge of the technical development and museographic implementation of four sections of the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, with a total surface area of 12,000m².

In the energy sector, ACCIONA Energía has built and now operates three photovoltaic plants in partnership with Swicorp’s renewable energy platform. The three PV plants, located in the Benban complex in the Aswan region, have a total capacity of 186MWp.