The Diplomat
The water cycle management company Aqualia has begun operations in Peru, after several years working on local market prospecting, to bring its experience and knowledge to the Andean country.
The company has been selected for the design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Chincha, a province located 200 kilometers south of Lima, in the department of Ica.
The main objective of the project is to provide adequate treatment and supply of wastewater generated in seven districts of the province of Chincha (Chincha Alta, Chincha Baja, Grocio Prado, Pueblo Nuevo, Alto Larán, Sunampe and Tambo de Mora). Once they are up and running, the plants will improve the quality of life of 345,000 inhabitants of the region.
As the successful bidder for the project, Aqualia will execute and operate approximately 21 kilometres of main collection networks and pumping lines, a pumping station, the wastewater treatment plants included in the project and 7.7 kilometres of lines for the final disposal of treated water. The concession period is 24 years in total: the first four for the design, financing and construction, and the remaining twenty for operation and maintenance.
ProInversión, the Peruvian agency for the promotion of private investment, has been in charge of seeking private partners interested in building the wastewater treatment plant in a public-private partnership model. The initiative, worth 92 million euros (excluding VAT), was declared of interest by ProInversión at the beginning of October 2024 and after the transaction phase, awarded to Aqualia.
At the public event held on January 7, in which ProInversión awarded the project to Aqualia, the executive director of the Peruvian agency, José Salardi, explained that “this concession represents an unblocking of public-private partnerships in the sanitation sector, which has been waiting for the development of infrastructure for the treatment of wastewater for six years.” Salardi pointed out that “the Chincha WWTP is part of a portfolio of eight sanitation projects worth more than 1.5 billion euros that ProInversión will promote in 2025.”
Aqualia is the water management company owned by the citizen services group FCC (51%) and the Australian ethical fund IFM Investors (49%). The company is the fourth water company in Europe by population served and the ninth in the world, according to the latest ranking by Global Water Intelligence (December 2024). It currently serves more than 45 million users and operates in 18 countries: Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Chile, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Spain, United States, France, Georgia, Italy, Mexico, Oman, Peru, Portugal, Qatar, Czech Republic and Romania.
