ACCIONA to build drinking water plant, multiple aqueducts in Dominican Republic

• Company clinches a 74 million euro contract for the construction and commissioning of a drinking water plant, a 17.5 km adduction line and a supply network in Peravia province

The project presented by the joint venture formed by ACCIONA Agua (60%) and the Dominican firm Abi-Karram Morilla Ingenieros Arquitectos (40%) beat three other bids by consortiums led by The Biwater Group, Vinci and Odebrecht.

The construction of this supply plant stems from the Dominican Government's commitment to provide the local population with a greatly required infrastructure. Peravia province has been blighted by a shortage of drinking water for more than 40 years.

The Peravia DWTP will be designed and constructed by ACCIONA Agua and will initially provide drinking water for 138,000 people, a figure that will be stepped up to 300,000 in the future. The plant, which will have a capacity of 86,400m³/day, will capture water from the Valdesia Reservoir via a 17.5km adduction pipeline.

ACCIONA Agua will also build various conduction systems, a pressure piping line, six new regulating depositsand a pumping station. In addition, the supply system will be improved overall; this will entail developing a large potable water supply network for the towns of Bani, Paya, El Fundo, Matanzas and Arroyo Hondo.

ACCIONA Agua will apply its technology across the entire treatment process to obtain top-quality water: the DWTP will feature cascade aeration, dosage of coagulant and flocculant reagents, lamellar settler, sand filtering, disinfection with chloride gas, sludge treatment by static thickening and drying periods.

A growing presence in LatAm throughout 2009
The Peravia contract represents ACCIONA Agua's first incursion in the Dominican Republic. It also enhances the company's presence in Latin America where it already has a number of important desalination and water treatment operations. The company won major contracts in the region between 2008 and 2009, such as the construction of Venezuela's first reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plant (with a capacity of 75.000m³/day), and technical and maintenance support for the Arrudas wastewater treatment plant, in Brazil, where the technology applied will bring 1.5 million euros a year in electrical energy savings and will avoid 6,400 metric tons a year in CO2 emissions. In Chile, ACCIONA Agua operates four water treatment plants in Osorno, Temuco, La Ligua and Valdivia (total flow: 123,049m³/day), and in Peru the company built and maintains the Talara RO desalination plant (2.400m³/day), which provides water for 5,400 people.

Driven by solar, wind and water, Acciona (www.acciona.es) is one of Spain's largest contractors. It operates through six business lines: infrastructure, energy, real estate, logistics and transport, urban and environmental services, and water. It also has holdings in wine, media, and display and event organization. The company builds roads and other civil projects, manages airport services, and operates cogeneration plants, wind power parks, and hydroelectric projects in Spain and around the world. Acciona is controlled by the descendants of its founder through Grupo Entrecanales.

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