Israel revealed last week a project to transform the Ashkelon Desalination Plant, making it the largest in the country, reports MivzakLive.
An international concession tender was issued by the inter-ministerial tender committee for seawater desalination in the Accountant General's Division for the renovation, expansion and 25-year operation of the desalination facility in Ashkelon, situated near the Mediterranean coastal city of Ashkelon in southern Israel.
When completed, the Ashkelon desalination plant was one of the world’s largest and most advanced membrane-based desalination plants. Now, as the facility is nearing the end of the first concession period, the plan is to double the volume of desalinated water from approximately 120 million cubic meters per year to 220 million cubic meters of water per year. Once the project is completed, it will become Israel’s largest desalination plant.
The upcoming concession will include the renovation and renewal of all the plant’s systems, the construction of new infrastructure, and the continued operation of the plant, ensuring water supply to the state for an additional 25-year period.
The accountant general, Yehli Rotenberg, said: “For the first time, we are re-tendering the desalination plant in Ashkelon, whose concession agreement has ended, for an additional concession and operation period that will also include a significant expansion of the facility. The new tender for the additional concession period at the Ashkelon desalination plant is another significant step in a series of facilities desalination promoted by the Accountant General's Department using the PPP method in recent years, and which has led to a real revolution in the water sector.”
Currently, the Sorek Desalination Plant is Israel’s largest facility, with a water output of about 150 cubic meters per year. It was jointly built and operated by a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based multinational conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Limited and its Israeli partner IDE Technologies.
