The United Nations has accepted the case study prepared by the IESE business school and FCC Aqualia on the New Cairo wastewater-treatment plant (WWTP) project to treat wastewater from the Egyptian capital's new residential area. It is an international benchmark in public-private partnership (PPP) for the water-management sector.

The New Cairo plant was the first PPP project to be undertaken in Egypt. FCC Aqualia was awarded the concession for the plant which serves a population of one million.

The new WWTP project has made an important contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The text available on the website of the UN European Commission for Europe (www.unece.org) includes information on how the WWTP's operations is helping to deliver 12 of the 17 goals.

This case study is a result of the partnership that FCC Aqualia forged in 2016 with 'PPP for Cities', a UN initiative via its UNECE Regional Commission and its International Centre of Excellence on PPPs' (ICoE) programme, housed in Spain at the IESE business school.

FCC Aqualia leads the water section of this project, providing its experience for the various working groups and activities with a view to developing research areas, innovation and support for public entities all over the world for the planning, management and development of city-related PPP projects. This is a crucial task for the future of society, as it is estimated that by 2030 some five billion people - 60% of the world population - will be concentrated in urban areas.

The CEO of FCC Group, Carlos M. Jarque, said 'Water is a strategic resource and we all need to be more aware about the proper use of this basic right that is essential for life.' He adds that 'FCC Aqualia is a benchmark company in the water-management sector, and it is constantly striving to improve effectiveness in production processes and optimise resources, as well as participating in innovative projects.'

The United Nations, through one of its five Regional Commissions (UNECE) set up the 'International centre of Excellence on PPPs' to be a leader and international benchmark in the preparation of best practices and standards for PPP and to help governments to implement them. This centre is supported by the work at six specialist centres (SCs) located in various parts of the world. The 'PPP for Cities' centre in Madrid, is one of three (alongside Paris and Moscow) that is located in Europe.

With regard to the 17 Millennium Goals that the UN approved for the 2015-2030 period, goals one, three and six are the ones that are directly related to water management. Goal 17 addresses the development of various forms of partnership (including public-private alliances or PPP) as an essential tool for achieving these goals.

The two UN Special Rapporteurs on the human right to water, Catarina de Albuquerque (2008-2014) and Leo Heller (the current Special Rapporteur) have always recognised this right and the need for PPP to assure people's access to water services. 'Human rights are agnostic in terms of how services are provided,' Catarina de Albuquerque said in an interview published in the newspaper El País on 1 December 2014.

FCC Aqualia: extensive, proven experience in PPP projects

In this area of partnerships, FCC Aqualia has considerable experience of developing PPP projects, some of which have been formally recognised by the international community in the form of awards. This is the case, for example, with the New Cairo plant, which won Water Deal of the Year in 2010, and African PPP Water Deal of the Year the following year. This infrastructure was selected as the third best PPP project by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), an independent body under the auspices of the World Bank.

Mexico's El Realito water-supply project has won numerous awards, including Water Deal of the Year in 2012 and Latin American Water Deal of the Year the same year.

FCC Aqualia is the water-management company of FCC Group, one of the leading public-services groups in Europe. It is the third-largest private water company in Europe and the seventh-largest in the world, according to the latest ranking by the specialist journal Global Water Intelligence (GWI), serving 22.5 million users.

The company currently provides services in 1,100 municipal districts in 23 countries: Spain, Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Algeria, Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Kosovo, Tunisia, Qatar, India, Colombia, Ecuador and Oman.

In 2016, the companies billings totalled €1.01 billion, with an order book approaching €15 billion.

FCC - Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA published this content on 21 April 2017 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
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