Warehouse fire delays Magtaa desalination by nine months

Completion of the 500,000 m³/d Magtaa desalination plant in western Algeria will be delayed by nine months after a fire destroyed the contractor’s onsite warehouse on 28 July 2011.

Cho Wee Peng, group chief financial officer for Hyflux of Singapore, announced the same day that, while all buildings and equipment at the construction site were unaffected by the fire, the warehouse, sited a few hundred metres away, housed equipment which was to be used for the project.

According to preliminary estimates, related costs and estimates arising from the fire are around US$ 50 million. The company is working with its insurers to investigate the cause of the fire and to make claims accordingly.

As a result of this incident, all damaged equipment and other supplies will have to be reprocured. The project completion is expected to be delayed till May 2012 instead of this month.