The tender for the design, construction and operation of the Seawater Desalination System in the Algarve region was published on Friday, in Diário da República.
The base price is 90 million euros and has a deadline of the end of 2026.
The system will have an initial production capacity of 16 million m3 of water per year, with civil works prepared to increase capacity to 24 million m3 per year.
“This structural project for the region aims to guarantee the resilience of public supply to the population of the Algarve, particularly in periods of prolonged drought, through an increase in water availability”, explains Águas do Algarve in a statement.
The Algarve Seawater Desalination Station is part of a range of investments that Águas do Algarve is carrying out within the scope of the Algarve Water Efficiency Plan, under the Recovery and Resilience Program (PRR), and which will allow for increased water availability in the region by more than 69 million m3 per year.
“At a time of high complexity of processes, inherent to the challenges that water scarcity has brought to the Algarve region, and consequently to Águas do Algarve, I cannot fail to highlight the great effort made by the entire company and its employees, so that all the projects we are executing within the scope of the Water Efficiency Plan and incorporated into the PRR are being fulfilled in accordance with the previously established objectives, thus demonstrating the company's ongoing commitment to water efficiency and environmental sustainability in our region”, says António Eusébio, president of Águas do Algarve
Comments
No mention of the cost of this project going up from 50 million to 90 million euros. No mention of the government forcefully acquiring private land at fraction of the market value.
This is almost like an advert for Aguas do Algarve.