Almar Water Solutions pre-qualifies for a desalination plant in Umm Al Quwain, in the United Arab Emirates

On 18 August, Almar Water Solutions, through its parent company Abdul Latif Jameel, was pre-qualified for the development of a desalination plant in Umm Al Quwain in the United Arab Emirates.

The desalination plant, with a rated capacity of 204,570 cubic metres/day, will be developed under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) or Build-Own-Operate (BOO) scheme over 25 years, and will supply a population of over one million inhabitants.

The project includes the design, construction, financing and operation of a reverse osmosis desalination plant in the north of the Emirate, and it is estimated that it will be operational in 2020.

The Umm Al Quwain Emirate is located in the north of the country and has a surface area of 777 square kilometres. Although it is the smallest of the Emirates, with a population of 80,000 inhabitants, it has plans to build a new city with space for 400,000 people, meaning that there will be an increased need for water.

Conversely, rainfall in the Emirate is minimal, with an average of 42 mm per year. This means that there is a real need for water and the construction of a new desalination plant will be able to meet the demands of human consumption and other uses, such as irrigation, cleaning, industry, etc.

Including Almar Water Solutions, the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA) has pre-qualified a total of 14 companies for the project’s subsequent phase.