TUNISIA: a new wastewater treatment plant will boost sanitation in Sousse

Good news for the inhabitants of Sousse, a port city in eastern Tunisia. Va Tech Wabag, an Indian company specializing in water treatment, will build a wastewater treatment plant in Sousse. The plant will be located close to the Hamdoun River, to help clean it up. The partnership agreement was signed recently between Va Tech Wabag Tunisie and Tunisia’s National Sanitation Office (ONAS).

The Indian group, which will work with the Tunisian company Gloulou Mohamed et Salem (EGMS) as partner responsible for all civil engineering works associated with the project, will also operate and maintain the future plant for a period of 12 months after commissioning. “We would like to express our gratitude to ONAS for the trust it continues to place in Va Tech Wabag,” said Habib Derouich, CEO of Va Tech Wabag Tunisie. He added that “this new order has been won against a backdrop of strong global competition”.

Approximately 34 million euros will be needed The new facility, which will have a capacity of 36,000 m³ per day, will be built in 24 months, thanks to financing of 114.22 million Tunisian dinars (almost 34 million euros) from the French Development Agency (AFD), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Union (EU).

ONAS, the initiator of the liquid sanitation project, is convinced that it will enhance its effluent management efficiency in the city of Sousse, where freshwater sources (groundwater, rivers and reservoirs) are increasingly polluted by wastewater, particularly from agriculture and industry.

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Va Tech Wabag has won this contract at a time when several other projects are planned in the North African country to improve liquid sanitation services, including the project to renovate eight wastewater treatment plants, to be launched shortly by ONAS thanks to a $1.2 million grant from the EIB.

Inès Magoum