The Diplomat
The Empresa Municipal de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado de Guayaquil (EMAPAG) has awarded Acciona the construction of the Los Merinos wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in the north of the city. It will be the Spanish company’s fourth facility of this type in Ecuador.
The 140 million euro contract, which includes the ‘Progreso’ wastewater pumping station, is financed by the World Bank. It will serve 1.5 million people and will take 42 months to complete.
The WWTP will include advanced wastewater treatment and sludge treatment, with a capacity of 4 cubic metres per second, which will contribute to environmental improvement and the elimination of bad odours in the area, according to a statement from the Spanish company.
In 2019, Acciona already completed the construction of the La Pradera pumping station as part of the system for the future Las Esclusas WWTP in Guayaquil, which replaces the previous pumping station and contributes to modernising the treatment network.
This first project, which was financed by the European Investment Bank, had a budget of 22 million euros and was part of the programme for the universalisation of sanitary sewerage for one million people.
The group headed by José Manuel Entrecanales has designed and built more than 330 wastewater treatment plants around the world, with a total capacity of 22.3 million cubic metres per day, equivalent to a population of more than 80 million inhabitants.
In Ecuador, Acciona has had its own office since 2012 and, in addition to this treatment plant and other contracts, it is now involved in the second phase of the Quito metro, a contract worth 1.4 billion euros.
