Veolia has won a E156 million ($164 million) contract to design and build a water treatment and conveyance network supplying potable water to 350,000 people in the Greater Matale region of Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan National Water Supply and Drainage Board appointed Veolia subsidiary OTV to project manage the construction of five new water treatment plants, 12 service reservoirs, five pumping stations, and 433 kilometres of transmission and distribution pipeline. Veolia subsidiary SADE will act as subcontractor to design and build the pipeline.
Greater Matale region is in Sri Lanka’s Central Province, about 150 kilometres outside of the capital city Colombo, and is predominantly agricultural.
The project comprises a plant in Matale with capacity of 30,000 m3/d, one in Ambanganga at 18,000 m3/d; and Rattotta, Udatenna, and Ukuwela all at 9,000 m3/d. “All these plants will take a surface water feed and will utilise clarification, including coagulation, flocculation, and settling, as well as filtration, technologies,” said Veolia business development director Mark Elliott.
The contract was enabled by a financial scheme of the French government that combines export credit from a banking syndicate with a guarantee from the French Ministry of Finance, a local commercial loan from HNB Bank, and treasury bonds. The banking syndicate comprises CACIB, Natixis, Unicredit, and BNP Paribas.
“Veolia is deeply rooted and involved in Asia Pacific, where we have built more than 250 drinking water and wastewater treatment plants in the last 20 years,” said Veolia Global Enterprises director Claude Laruelle.