Leading Spanish infrastructure major Acciona said it has achieved a key milestone in the construction of the Jebel Ali desalination plant located in Dubai with the production of the first cubic meter of potable water.
The plant, equipped with energy-efficient seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) technology, is a critical project in the modernisation of the water sector being undertaken by Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa).
Its capacity makes it one of the largest desalination plants in the UAE, said Acciona, the EPC contractor for Jebel Ali SWRO.
Once the plant gets completed by 2021, it will produce 182,000 cu m of potable water per day, serving a population of 700,000 inhabitants.
It is being built in co-ordination with Besix, the largest Belgian group operating in the construction of buildings and infrastructure sector.
Francisco Javier Nieto, Acciona Project Director, said: "This milestone is the result of good teamwork between the client, our engineers and the construction teams. Now that we are entering the final stage of construction, we will undertake a number of trials and tests to make sure everything works perfectly."
Jesús Sancho, Acciona Middle East Managing Director, said: “We are proud to have reached this milestone at Jebel Ali SWRO on time that proves Acciona’s commitment and good work with our clients.
It is an essential milestone and we are very proud of it, as it demonstrates our commitment to respect the goals of our client and local authorities”.
Acciona is a world leader in desalination using reverse osmosis technology, which emits 6.5 times fewer greenhouse gases than thermal desalination, stated Sancho.
The company has currently under construction 4 desalination plants in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, all of them with Seawater Reverse Osmosis technology, he added.
