Ras Al-Khaimah awards sewage PPP contract

20 January 2026

A consortium of Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa), France’s Saur and the local Etihad Water & Electricity (Etihad WE) has signed a contract to develop and operate a wastewater treatment plant in the UAE’s northern emirate of Ras Al-Khaimah.

The Rakwa wastewater infrastructure project is Ras Al-Khaimah’s first public-private partnership (PPP) for a sewage treatment plant.

It is being developed in partnership with Ras Al-Khaimah’s Public Services Department and Investment & Development Office.

The $120m project entails developing a wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of 60,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d), expandable to 150,000 cm/d. 

On 9 January, MEED exclusively reported that the consortium was set to be awarded the contract. The consortium is being led by Ajman-based Emirates Utilities Development Company, a subsidiary of Etihad WE.

US/India-based Synergy Consulting is the financial advisory consultant to Taqa and EtihadWE on this project.

MEED previously reported that two bidding consortiums had submitted bids for the contract. The other bidding consortium comprised the UAE’s Metito Utilities and Omani firm Sogex.

The scope of the build, own, operate and transfer scheme will include extensive sewerage and distribution works in addition to the main treatment plant.

Future PPP project

For its part, Etihad WE is preparing to procure another utility PPP project in Ras Al-Khaimah.

The project involves expanding the capacity of an existing seawater reverse osmosis plant in Ghalilah, which became operational in 2015. 

The state-owned utility recently appointed Austria’s ILF Consulting Engineers to provide technical advisory services for the project, which is expected to be tendered this year.

If successfully procured, it will be the first independent water project in Ras Al-Khaimah.


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Mark Dowdall
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