The Metito-Orascom joint venture is looking to establish desalination facilities in Libya and Iraq, reports Daily News Egypt.
The Managing Director of Metito Africa Group, Karim Medawar, spoke with the Daily News Egypt and announced that his company in alliance with Orascom are particularly interested in the Libyan and Iraqi markets as there are opportunities available to establish water desalination plants at a cost of around $50 million.
Metito has built several desalination plants in North Africa, including five facilities in Egypt.
It is also currently implementing the largest desalination plant in Tunisia, with a capacity of 100,000 cubic metres per day, in partnership with Orascom.
At the end of January, the company announced that it had delivered the first of three floating desalination barges for The Saudi National Shipping Company (Bahri). It is part of the first and largest floating water desalination plant in Saudi Arabia with a capacity of 50,000 cubic metres per day and two additional plants with a total capacity of 100,000 cubic metres per day are scheduled to be completed soon.
Medawar added that Egypt accounts for 20% of Metito’s business in Africa and that the company wishes to increase this percentage by participating in infrastructure projects being implemented by the Egyptian government.
Within Egypt’s 2030 Vision, the country is working on a pioneering plan, one of the largest in the Middle East, to implement ambitious water projects with the integration of the seawater desalination strategy.
Last year the country announced it would implement 43 projects to develop clean water and sanitation with EU backing worth $5 billion, including new projects to develop and operate projects for water desalination, sewage treatment, and agricultural drainage treatment and recycling in support of the state’s policy for rational water management.
The projects will enhance water security in Egypt by reducing dependence on the River Nile and securing alternative sources of water, especially coastal areas, through the establishment of seawater desalination plants.
