Spanish infrastructure major Acciona has, along with its local partners Tawzea and Tamasuk, achieved a major safety milestone clocking 1 million man-hours without Lost-Time Injuries (LTI) at the three wastewater treatment plants being built by the group in Saudi Arabia.
This achievement reflects the companies' commitment to safety and the shared focus between Acciona and its partners on risk prevention and the correct implementation of Health and Safety (HSE) measures among all project workers.
Acciona, in close collaboration with Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) and its partners, has applied very high health and safety standards since the beginning of the works and the present achievement is the result of this great effort by all parties, said a statement from Acciona.
The record of zero LTI demonstrates the comprehensive teamwork of all parties involved: SWPC, Acciona, Tawzea, Tamasuk, as well as the subcontractors, who, from the beginning of the project, have prioritized safety in parallel to the execution of the works.
Luis Estacio Sierra, project manager, underlined the company's objective of completing the project with a zero LTI index and meeting all the requirements of the contract.
The contracts for these wastewater plants are the first ones that Acciona has signed in the field of wastewater treatment in the Middle East that are being implemented on the BOOT/EPC (build, own, operate and transfer/engineering, procurement and construction) model.
Acciona said as per the contracts, it will be responsible for the development, design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the facilities for 25 years.
Once completed, the Madinah-3 (which has a 200,000 cu m/day capacity, expandable to 375,000 cu m/day), Buraydah-2 (150,000 cu m/day) and Tabuk-2 (90,000 cu m/day) will together treat the urban wastewater and cater to more than two million inhabitants.
The Spanish infrastructure major will also execute 23 km of recycled water collectors for irrigation, three storage reservoirs and the respective pumping stations, stated Sierra.
In addition, this is the first time that Acciona's water business has achieved the financial closing of a green loan worth $480 million. This highlights the company's commitment to sustainability and innovation, he added.