ACCIONA Agua, selected for Perth (Australia) water plant project

Investment could come to more than 200 million euros.

ACCIONA Agua as part of the Helena Water consortium, including United Utilities Australia, Brookfield Multiplex and Royal Bank of Scotland, is one of the two groups shortlisted by the Water Corporation - representing the government of the State of Western Australia - for the design , construction, and operation of the Mundaring Drinking Water Plant, located near the state capital, Perth.

The two shortlisted consortiums will be under a six-month contract to undertake the final design of the plant; the group whose design is eventually selected will be awarded the construction and operation of the project, worth between AUD200m and AUD300m (142 and 212 million euros).

The Helena Water consortium has been selected in an international selection process contested by seven industry-benchmark groups.

The plant will have a capacity of 190 million litres/day (190,000m3/d) in 2012, the plant's infrastructure will be adjusted according to population growth and treatment capacity could eventually reach 250 million litres/day (250,000m3/d).

The Water Corporation considers that the project holds the greatest potential to benefit from private sector participation and represents an opportunity for procurement as a Public Private Partnership (PPP). In fact, this is the region's first ever water services PPP project.

This shortlisting strengthens ACCIONA Agua's presence in the Australian market where the company is currently carrying out a project in Adelaide, South Australia, involving the design, construction, operation and maintenance (for a 20-year period) of the Port Stanvac Sea Water Reverse Osmosis desalination plant.

ACCIONA Agua's first foray into the Australian market came in July 2007 with an agreement with the local subsidiary of the UK's United Utilities to work together on desalination projects in Australia. Today, ACCIONA Agua has offices in Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane.

Recently, the international water industry's most prestigious publication, Global Water Intelligence, named ACCIONA Agua 'World's Best Water Company'. ACCIONA's Strategic Plan has set the Group's water arm a target of 17% annual growth in revenues, to a total of 950 million euros in 2013.