The developer of the GCC region's largest standalone wastewater public-private partnership (PPP) project is making significant progress.Video clips uploaded on social media by the Kuwait branch of Germany's WTE Wassertechnik, the lead private developer and contractor on the $1.7bn Umm al-Hayman wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and network project, show the project's various sections could be approaching the commissioning phase, three-and-a-half years after reaching financial close.The facility is designed to treat sewage wastewater from southern Kuwait to supply agriculture and various other industries with highly treated sewage effluent (TSE).The project design and financing structure are complex.The wastewater treatment plant – which has an initial capacity of 500,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d), expandable to 700,000 cm/d – is being developed on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.The massive network of wastewater and TSE pipelines, pumping stations and reservoirs is being implemented using a build-design-operate (BDO) model.WTE will operate and maintain the Umm al-Hayman WWTP for 25 years and the canal network for three years.At the time of signing, the Umm al-Hayman WWTP was only the second project to be awarded under Kuwait's existing PPP law, following the award of the contract to develop the Al-Zour North 1 independent water and power project in 2012.The project shows the wherewithal of its public and private stakeholders to execute an infrastructure megaproject in a country where successful PPPs are few and far between.Other wastewater projects are moving ahead in Kuwait too. Companies recently submitted bids for the extension and development of the Public Works Ministry's North Kabd wastewater treatment plant.Unlike the Umm al-Hayman WWTP project, this long-delayed scheme is being developed using the conventional engineering, procurement and construction route.The ministry also recently invited technically qualified companies to submit commercial bids for the contract to build a wastewater treatment plant in South Al-Mutlaa by 29 October (ICE KUWAIT)

Fonte notizia: MEED