Taqa Water Solutions finds niche
23 September 2024Abu Dhabi Sustainable Water Solutions (SWS Holding) recently rebranded into Taqa Water Solutions, following its acquisition by Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa).
Taqa acquired SWS Holding, previously known as Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company and responsible for wastewater collection and treatment as well as the production of recycled water in Abu Dhabi, for AED1.7bn ($463m)
“I’m very positive about this acquisition,” says Ahmed Al-Shamsi, Taqa Water Solutions CEO. “We can capitalise on Taqa’s strong existing brand equity and larger organizational size. We can now offer comprehensive utility solutions across the power and water sectors and act like a one-stop shop for our clients. Being part of Taqa gives us access to additional business opportunities.”
The process of integrating the business into Taqa’s and fully aligning the companies' policies is expected to be completed within six months.
As things stand, Al-Shamsi said his company is preparing to bid for new contracts to develop and operate wastewater treatment and desalination plant projects in the UAE and beyond.
In August, the company signed a joint development agreement, along with Japan’s Marubeni Corporation and France-based Suez, to develop a 1.5 million-cubic-metres-a-day wastewater treatment plant in Uzbekistan.
The 25-year project is valued at more than $1bn, with construction expected to begin in 2026, with the plant scheduled to become fully operational by 2030.
The company has also been prequalified to bid for a contract to develop the first independent water project (IWP) in the UAE northern emirate of Ras Al-Khaimah, which will have a significantly smaller capacity of 70,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d).
At the time of the interview, Al-Shamshi said they are finalising forming a consortium to bid for the Ras Al-Khaimah IWP project.
The firm is also keeping an eye on the Saudi water market. "We are gearing up [to bid for new projects] in Saudi Arabia," Alshamsi tells MEED.
Partnerships
The project in Uzbekistan provides a foretaste of the company’s preferred strategy. Al-Shamsi said one of their main strengths is their ability to access competitive financing options, which he describes as the main contributing factor in a successful project.
“Liquidity is not an issue for us, our priority is access to competitive interest rates with the lowest possible debt. We have a unique position to come up with favourable rates,” he explains.
The executive also said his firm’s future success will rely on their strategy when selecting partners as demonstrated in their Uzbekistan project.
Projects pipeline
While the company has set the stage with other Taqa entities to partner on projects in key areas like water desalination and wastewater treatment plant projects domestically and abroad, it will also continue to play the role of a procurer for such assets catering to the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
In September, it awarded the local Gulf Contractors Company a $150m contract to build a 9.5-kilometre gravity-driven wastewater line and decommission multiple pumping stations.
This upgrade is expected to reduce energy consumption and lower carbon emissions while boosting the hydraulic capacity of the network to 120,000 cm/d. The project caters to areas such as Al-Bahia, Al-Sader, Al-Shaliela, and Taweelah in Abu Dhabi.
MEED understands that the company has also set in place a five-year plan to allocated AED10bn ($2.72bn) across some 80 water infrastructure-related projects in Abu Dhabi.
Roughly 45% of the planned capital expense will be allocated to new projects, 40% to the rehabilitation of existing assets, another 10% to interconnections or pipelines, and the rest to regulatory compliance systems such as flow metering or Scada.
The company is also reviewing a previous plan to procure an advanced treated sewage effluent (TSE) plant that has an initial design capacity of 750,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d).
It is understood that “the process is under way to finalise the way forward for the project, which might eventually have a bigger capacity than initially planned”.
The initial plan entailed a TSE plant that is expected to have a design capacity of 700,000 cm/d, with the potential to expand this capacity to 950,000 cm/d in a subsequent phase.
Exclusive from Meed
-
UAE 2025 country profile and databank
3 January 2025
-
Saudi Arabia 2025 country profile and databank
2 January 2025
-
Tunisia 2025 country profile and databank
2 January 2025
-
Qatar 2025 country profile and databank
31 December 2024
-
Jordan 2025 country profile and databank
30 December 2024
All of this is only 1% of what MEED.com has to offer
Subscribe now and unlock all the 153,671 articles on MEED.com
- All the latest news, data, and market intelligence across MENA at your fingerprints
- First-hand updates and inside information on projects, clients and competitors that matter to you
- 20 years' archive of information, data, and news for you to access at your convenience
- Strategize to succeed and minimise risks with timely analysis of current and future market trends
Related Articles
-
UAE 2025 country profile and databank MEED Editorial
3 January 2025
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/13175290/main.jpeg -
Saudi Arabia 2025 country profile and databank MEED Editorial
2 January 2025
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/13175271/main.gif -
Tunisia 2025 country profile and databank MEED Editorial
2 January 2025
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/13175280/main.gif -
Qatar 2025 country profile and databank MEED Editorial
31 December 2024
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/13175251/main.gif -
Jordan 2025 country profile and databank MEED Editorial
30 December 2024
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/13175149/main.gif