ACCIONA Agua will treat Lima’s wastewater

Including construction and operation for 25 years, the deal amounts to 280 million euros.

The company has been awarded the La Chira wastewater treatment plant, which will serve 2.5 million people.

Peru's private investment agency Agencia de Promoción de la Inversión Privada (Proinversión) has awarded the La Chira consortium, comprising ACCIONA Agua and the Peruvian company Graña Montero,  a construction, design, financing and operation and maintenance contract for the La Chira Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) and underwater discharge pipeline, located to the south of Lima.

The deal, including construction and operation for 25 years, comes to roughly a total of 280 million euros, at current exchange rates.

The winning consortium, in which ACCIONA  has a 50% stake, beat other rival groups including ACS Servicios, Comunicaciones y Energía (Spain); Consorcio Odebrecht - Foz (Brazil) and Consorcio PTAR La Chira, comprising Andrade Gutiérrez (Brazil) and Abengoa (Peru).

The WWTP will help contribute to solving Lima's sanitary and environmental problems caused by the effluent of the Surco and Circunvalación collectors which discharge directly into the sea without prior treatment.

The La Chira project will enable the Peruvian government to fulfil its commitment to the Millennium Goals - 100% treated wastewater by 2015.

The concessionaire will build the necessary infrastructure and will provide the national drinking water and sewer system Servicio de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado (Sedapal) with treatment services of roughly 25% of the wastewater of the Peruvian capital, covering 2.5 million people. The plant will have an average capacity of 6.3 cubic metres a second and a maximum level of 11.3 metres a second.

The new plant will also aid the recovery of the environment of the beach areas which are currently polluted, increasing their use as recreational areas and for tourism, and helping to promote tourism projects in the area of influence.

This is ACCIONA Agua's second Peruvian contract - in 2002 the company built a desalination plant operating in Talara.

This new deal enhances the company's presence in Latin America where it is carrying out important activities in the spheres of  desalination and water treatment. Since 2008, ACCIONA Agua has been awarded important contracts such as the construction of Venezuela's first Reverse Osmosis desalination plant; technical assistance and maintenance of the Arrudas WWTP, in Brazil; construction of the drinking water plant and aqueduct of Peravia in the Dominican Republic and, more recently in 2010, it was awarded what will be the world's largest WWTP in Atotonilco, Mexico.

ACCIONA Agua is also present in Chile with 4 WWTPs in Osorno, Temuco, La Ligua and Valdivia with a total flow of 123,049m3 a day. The company has also been shortlisted for the design, construction and the start-up of Costa Rica's largest WWTP.

Read the story of La Chira WWTP in Perú