Following its recent landing of its first major Middle Eastern municipal water contract in five years, Singapore water treatment firm Hyflux said it anticipated demand in the region to accelerate.
Hyflux has indicated that it expected the intense political uncertainty that has stymied water treatment growth in the region to succumb to the power of demand. “Pent-up demand in the Middle East and Africa is driving the revival of water infrastructure projects,” said Hyflux’s executive chairman and group chief executive, Olivia Lum, according to the Nikkei Asian Review.
Lum highlighted an increase in the number of projects coming up for tender in the second half of 2014, and said Hyflux was eager to bid for new opportunities.
Hyflux in December 2014 secured the rights to develop and operate a seawater desalination plant in Qurayyat, near Oman’s capital, Muscat in a US$ 250 million deal. Hyflux will design, build and run a 200 Ml/d reverse-osmosis seawater desalination facility for public supply through the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company for 20 years. It is scheduled to start up in May 2017.