Metito-led consortium signs USD 1.5 bn PPP contract for sewage treatment plant: Qatar’s Public Works Authority (Ashghal) signed a QAR 5.4 bn (c. USD 1.5 bn) public private partnership (PPP) contract with a consortium led by UAE-based water management company Metito Utilities to build a sewage treatment plant near Mesaieed industrial city, Ashghal said in a statement on Sunday. This is the first drainage infrastructure project in Qatar to be implemented under a PPP framework.

In detail: The sewage treatment plant is expected to begin operating in 2026 and will serve over 306k people in its first phase, the statement notes. The consortium, which includes Qatar’s Al Attiya Motors and Trading Company and Kuwait’s Gulf Investment Corporation, will build the project under a build, operate and transfer (BOT) framework, according to a tender issued before the contract was awarded. There’s a 25-year water purchase agreement in place, and Ashghal will take over operation and maintenance of the plant after that period.

The plant’s 150k cubic meter per day (cm/d) capacity could be just the beginning: The plant is expected to expand to accommodate anticipated future need, with planned capacity of up to 600k cm/d by 2045, Ashghal’s head of treatment plants Abdulrahman Al Sulaiti is quoted as saying.

It’s all part of leveraging local and international investment to build Qatar’s private sector, Ashghal president Saad Al Muhannadi is quoted in the statement as saying. Foreign investment in the project is an estimated QAR 2.7 bn (USD 740 mn), while some 60% of the project’s fixed costs will go towards local purchases, including construction materials, equipment and building and maintenance services, he added.