The Spanish construction company will expand the Gabal Al Asfar wastewater treatment plant, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. The project includes the design, commissioning and maintenance of what will be the largest such plant in Africa and the Middle East.

The addition to the facility will be able to treat 500,000 cubic meters per day and cover the needs of the eastern portion of the Egyptian capital, which includes an estimated population of about 8 million people. Once the project is completed, Gabal Al Asfar will have a treatment capacity of 2.5 million cubic meters per day, making it the largest treatment complex in Africa and the Middle East, and the third largest in the entire world. The construction work is expected to be completed in three and a half years.

Acciona Agua is participating in a consortium with Germany’s Passavant-Roediger and Egypt’s Allam Construction group. Elsewhere on the African continent, the Spanish company was recently awarded contracts to build the Ntoum 7 water purification facility in Libreville, Gabon, and the Oum Azza purification plant which will increase capacity in the coastal region of Rabat-Casablanca. In 2011 the company commissioned Algeria’s Fouka desalination plant as well, which produces 120,000 cubic meters of water per day.

Acciona has a number of projects in Egypt, including the waste water treatment plants at Abnoub & el Fath and Kattaneya. It also operates five drinking water purification plants with a combined total capacity of over 600,000 cubic meters.