Press releases

Keppel Seghers, the environmental technology division of Keppel Group, has secured a €11Million (S$22Million) contract to design, build and operate a wastewater treatment and reuse plant for the city of Ain Beida, Oum-El-Bouaghi province, Algeria.

Awarded by Direction Hydraulique de Wilaya (DHW) Oum-El-Bouaghi, Keppel Seghers will design the plant and operate it for two years. In addition, Keppel Seghers will provide a fully integrated wastewater treatment installation including wastewater pre-treatment, an activated sludge unit, as well as a settling and disinfection unit. Keppel Seghers’ partner for this project is Hydro-Technique, a major civil water works company in Algeria.

When completed in 2009, the plant will be able to treat 25,260m3/day of wastewater, catering to a population of 210,000 people. The treated wastewater will be used for irrigation purposes.

This contract follows another contract Keppel Seghers secured in Algeria in July to design and build a wastewater treatment and reuse plant of similar capacity in Laghouat province and operate it for two years. The treated wastewater will also be used for irrigation purposes.

Mr Chua Chee Wui, Chief Executive Officer of Keppel Integrated Engineering, said, “This is the sixth water project that Keppel Seghers has secured in Algeria. The Algerian market is strategic for Keppel; our experience and expertise in wastewater treatment and water reuse are particularly suited to offer solutions to address the water scarcity issues in Algeria.”

Said Mr Werner Van Peteghem, Business Manager for Water Technologies in Keppel Seghers, “Rapid population and economic growth is driving the need for water and wastewater treatment and reuse in Algeria. Together with local partners like Hydro-Technique, Keppel intends to actively participate in the upcoming opportunities in Algeria.

“As a leading solutions provider for water and solid waste treatment technology with a global footprint in 25 countries, Keppel Seghers is well positioned to provide its expertise in EPC services and operation & maintenance for large water treatment projects to our customers in Algeria and the rest of the Maghreb countries and the Middle East. We will continue to strengthen our presence in this region."

Keppel has been active in the Maghreb countries and the Middle East for several years, having completed over 30 water treatment projects in Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Turkey.

In October 2006, Keppel was awarded design, build, operate and maintain contracts for the first integrated solid waste management facility in the Middle East by the Qatar Government.

The aforementioned contract is not expected to have any significant impact on the net tangible assets and earnings per share of Keppel Corporation Limited for the financial year ending 31 December 2007.

Background information 
KIE is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Corporation.

Keppel Seghers, a subsidiary of KIE, is a leading provider of comprehensive environmental solutions ranging from consultancy, design and engineering, technology and construction to operations and maintenance of facilities. Its advanced technology solutions address a wide spectrum of environmental issues such as solid waste, wastewater, drinking & process water, biosolids & sludge. In addition, Keppel Seghers offers a full range of environmentally-friendly industry applications for the removal of organic substances from metal parts and tools.

To date, KIE has executed water, wastewater projects and waste-to-energy projects in more than 25 countries worldwide. KIE continues to actively pursue thermal waste treatment, water and wastewater treatment projects globally.

Water situation in Algeria 
With the exception of the northern coastal areas, Algeria is a desert country without rivers. The Government of Algeria faces a colossal task of increasing water resources to meet local needs (industrial, municipal and agriculture).

It is estimated that Algeria’s current sources of water are in the region of 5 billion m³ per year while local need exceeds 15-20 billion m³ yearly, of which 70% is allocated to agriculture.

Rapid increase of population and economic activities have led to a surge in the volume of sewage water produced which is forecasted to grow to 1.2 billion m3year by 2020. The Algerian government has drawn up a five-year development plan to build a significant number of new plants and to upgrade existing ones to treat the wastewater between 2010 and 2015.

For further information, please contact

Teo Chang Ching
Manager
Group Corporate Communications
Tel: (65) 64136426
Email: changching.teo@kepcorp.com