Metito, a leading provider of water and alternative energy management solutions, has secured a contract to design, build and operate a 100,000 cu m/day wastewater plant in Uzbekistan in addition to a new 7.5-km-long effluent discharge pipeline for the country. 

 

The project worth $100 million, is the first wastewater project to be implemented under the country’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Law with private investment and project financing undertaken by the Ministry of Housing and Communal Services with the full support of the Government of Uzbekistan.

 

Dominated by large desert plains and an arid climate, Uzbekistan is considered a water-scarce country.

 

Namangan is located on the right bank of the Syr Darya River. Due to climate change, there has been lower river flows and water stress causing a growing gap between water supply and demand. 

 

The project is the second in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region, will contribute towards rehabilitating and expanding the water and wastewater infrastructure in the Namangan region, located 295km from the capital city, Tashkent. 

 

This will improve access to safe water and create a more sustainable community. Metito will be responsible for the engineering, procurement, and construction of the project for the first 2 years as well as its operation and maintenance for 23 years after completion.

 

On the contract win, Managing Director Rami Ghandour said the project marks Metito’s first PPP project in the Uzbekistan and it was officially announced the winner following a two-staged open international tender run by Asian Development Bank with 23 foreign companies. 

 

"Water impacts almost every facet of life, and ensuring a stable and sustainable clean water supply is vital to the sustainable development of any economy. The Namangan PPP braves the path of taking a much bolder approach to financing capital-intensive large infrastructural projects able to address growing water needs where there are budget constraints and other priorities for government budgetary spending," he noted.

 

"We are confident that our global and extended experience in water PPPs, our high-value engineering capabilities along with integrating the latest technologies, will enable us to set a new benchmark for future water projects in Uzbekistan and the wider CIS region," he added.

 

Metito’s team of advisory included Synergy Consulting (Financial Advisor), KPMG (Tax Advisor), Hogan Lovells (Legal Advisor).