Impregilo, Italy's largest construction firm, has been awarded an Dh892 million (US$242.8m) contract to build a waste water tunnel in Abu Dhabi, the latest move to upgrade the infrastructure of the capital. The project, part of Abu Dhabi's water conservation plans, will be the biggest of its kind in the UAE. In a statement to the Italian stock exchange, Impregilo said it would build the first 15km of the 40km hydraulic tunnel, which will collect waste water on Abu Dhabi Island and the mainland and carry it to a treatment plant in Al Wathba.
It forms part of the Strategic Tunnel Enhancement Programme (STEP), a component of Abu Dhabi's strategic plan. The programme is being developed by the Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company at a cost that is expected to exceed Dh6 billion. Work on the new tunnel will get underway at the end of this year, and will be completed in the second half of 2013. Gulf states are investing oil revenues in large-scale infrastructure programmes to cope with fast-growing populations, and to meet economic diversification plans that have led to the construction of airports, industrial plants and tourism facilities.
CH2M Hill, the international project management and engineering firm, has been appointed as the programme manager. A challenging project technically, it will involve the simultaneous use of three tunnel-boring machines working at depths of 50 metres below the surface of the capital. About 550 million litres of waste water is generated in Abu Dhabi every day, with most of it treated and used for irrigation, according to figures from the Regulation and Supervision Bureau.
Impregilo has been active in Abu Dhabi for more than 20 years through its subsidiary, Fisia Italimpianti. The company has built six desalination plants in the emirate, with the most recent one being in Taweelah, which was completed last year. agiuffrida@thenational.ae