As part of the award, Palm
Water LLC will be granted a 30-year concession to provide
both sewage and irrigation services on behalf of Nakheel.
The sewage treatment plant - set to be among the largest
Membrane BioReactor (MBR) -based plants in the Middle East,
is expected to have a capacity to treat about 110,000 m3 of
sewage each day - nearly the same amount of high quality
irrigation water. Planned as a part of the development, the
plant will use state-of-the-art technology and easily blend
with the surrounding environment.
Elaborating on the contract, Robert M. (Bob) Bryniak, CEO,
Palm Water, said, 'We are very pleased to have been awarded
this important contract. It represents one of the first
contracts awarded in the sewerage business to a privately
owned company in Dubai on a DBOO basis.'
Bryniak said that Palm Water will employ Membrane BioReactor
or MBR technology that will result in an extremely high
grade of treated sewage effluent that can be safely used for
irrigation purposes throughout the development at
International City.
The sewage treatment plant will be constructed in phases,
with the first phase going on stream in late 2007. One of
the unique elements of the project is that Palm Water will
be supplying Palm District Cooling with make-up water for
its cooling plants. This, in turn, will provide low-cost
district cooling to residents in Phase II and Phase III
phases at International City.
The scope of the contract includes designing, supplying,
constructing, owning, operating and maintaining the sewage
treatment plant. It also covers the owning, operating and
maintaining of the pumping station and tanks.
The existing sewerage, irrigation networks and collection
systems will be transferred to Palm Water and all future
enhancements will be implemented and maintained by the
company over the next 30 years. Networks and collection
systems being developed by others at Phases 2 & 3 at
International City will be purchased by Palm Water when
completed and maintained by the Company during the
concession period.
International companies are expected to be involved in the
design, construction and operation of the sewage treatment
plant. MWH is providing Palm Water with technical support
for the project while Allen & Overy is the legal counsel and
HSBC - the lead financial arranger. Award by Palm Water of
the Engineering Procurement Construction ('EPC') contract to
construct the main sewage treatment plant is imminent.
Palm Water LLC is owned by Istithmar, which has a majority
stake in the company. It undertakes projects that relate to
the build, own and operate (BOO) or build, own and transfer
(BOT) of a specific development. Palm Water also
participates in projects related to seawater desalination
plants, commercial, municipal and industrial water treatment
plants.
It also implements projects such as wastewater treatment and
recycling plants, potable water, treated wastewater
distribution networks, wastewater collection networks. Palm
Water is also engaged in related businesses that include
selling and distributing associated products related to the
water business. Palm Water is presently implementing two
desalination plants located on the Palm Jumeirah.
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MEEF |
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 Dubai: The UAE has 55,000 luxury four and five star hotel rooms that
will be completed in the next five years, according to a leading
real estate investment and consulting firm.
The hotel division of Jones Lang LaSalle, a Chicago-based firm that recently created a presence in Dubai by purchasing local firm RSP Group, said Dubai is leading the market with the confirmed development of more than half of all projects, followed closely by Abu Dhabi. "Last year, the confirmed pipeline of projects that were under construction or in advanced stages of planning stood at approximately 35,000 rooms," said Arthur de Haast, CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. "During the course of 2006, we have seen an increase in new development schemes emerging to meet the rising tourism and business travel requirements in the country. Fundamentals "This activity is being driven by an abundance of capital seeking real estate, strong market fundamentals, significant growth in intra-regional travel, and greater awareness of Dubai and Abu Dhabi as tourist destinations," said Thierry Loué, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle Mena. The planned growth in the UAE hospitality industry ranks as the dominant centre of hotel development worldwide. By comparison, Las Vegas has the world's second largest hotel development pipeline with 42,000 rooms, Macao follows with 27,000 rooms and China's Shanghai and Beijing with just 11,000 and 12,000 respectively. In addition to the significant investment being made within the country, rapidly increasing outbound capital flows from the Middle East are also expected. "Traditionally, Middle Eastern investors were attracted to iconic trophy asset hotels, but now the more sophisticated Middle Eastern investor is competing for assets across the hotel spectrum and sometimes teaming up with international private equity firms to acquire large portfolios of assets," he said. Many Asian hotels under development are being financed by Gulf investors and Jones Lang Lasalle, is gearing up to serve this clientele. The company foresees further investment by Gulf investors into Europe and Asia, notably in China and many of the Muslim countries in Southeast Asia. Stepping out Middle Eastern investors, primarily from the UAE, invested just under $1 billion in European hotels in 2005, according to Jones Lang LaSalle. In 2006, the same level of investment in the first half of the year alone has been observed, with Middle East investors eager to explore opportunities in Asia and Europe, according to Arthur de Haast, CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle.
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