2024-07-07 22:20:15
Senegal will cancel a 32-year water infrastructure deal signed by former President Macky Sall with Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power because of the high cost, the country’s water and sanitation minister, Cheick Tidiane Diaye, said.
Reuters reported that a contract to build and operate a desalination plant in the capital, Dakar, worth $800 million, was signed last March in the final days of Sall’s term.
The project was aimed at reducing water deficits in a country where water withdrawals are expected to rise by up to 60% by 2035, according to the World Bank.
The project has been described as the largest of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa, with a production capacity of 400,000 cubic metres per day.
But the minister, Sheikh Tidian Dayi, said the long-term cost made the project a “short-term and expensive solution.” He added that “the price of water will become higher in the long term because of the technology used to produce it.”
ACWA Power, formerly known as International Water and Power Company, is a leading power and water desalination company with a proven track record in the energy sector, spanning solar (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP), geothermal, wind, waste-to-energy (WtE) and clean coal.
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2024-07-07 22:20:15