ACCIONA begins operating New Cairo water supply system in Egypt

ACCIONA Agua has begin operating the upstream water supply infrastructure in New Cairo, a satellite city about 30 kilometres east of Egypt's capital. The process includes taking water from the River Nile, piping it to the potabilisation plant, processing it and then storing the water for distribution to end users.

The contract for operating and maintaining these facilities was awarded by Egypt's Construction Authority for Potable Water and Wastewater (CAPW) to a consortium comprising ACCIONA Water and International Consultants for Agency & Trade S.A.E. (ICAT). The four-year contract is worth about 40 million dollars (35 million euros).

The infrastructure, which has been operated by ACCIONA Water since 1 June, captures water from the Nile River, pipes it a distance of 40 km, and treats it at the New Cairo drinking water treatment plant, which has a capacity of 500,000 m3/day.

The piping system, with capacity to carry 1,000,000 m3 per day, comprises two 42-kilometre water mains each with a diameter of 2.6 metres, and four pumping stations.

This project will enhance end-to-end management of the municipal water cycle in New Cairo, a city built in 2000 in what was formerly desert. The city has several international university campuses and its population is expected to reach 3 million in the coming years. This project, which is ACCIONA Water's fifth in Africa in recent years and its third in Egypt, strengthens the company's position in the region.

The company has also been awarded the contract to expand the Gabal Al Asfar wastewater treatment plant, on the outskirts of Cairo, the largest plant of its type in all of Africa, with a budget of over 120 million euros. It has other wastewater projects in Egypt, such as the Abnoub & el Fath plant, with a capacity of 80,000 m3, able to serve a population of 750,000, and Kattaneya, with a capacity of 100,000 m3, serving a population of one million.

It has also built five drinking water treatment plants in Egypt — Almerya, Rod el Farag, Mostorod, North Helwan I and North Helwan II — with a total processing capacity of over 600,000 m3, to serve an estimated 6.1 million people.