The concession, construction and exploration contract for the future Algarve desalination plant, which should be built by the end of 2026, was signed this Tuesday in Albufeira in the presence of the Prime Minister, Águas do Algarve announced.
The award contract, which represents an investment of around 108 million euros, is integrated into the Algarve Regional Water Efficiency Plan, framed in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
The construction project of a desalination plant in the municipality of Albufeira, in the district of Faro, It is one of the response measures to the drought that affects the southernmost region of Portugal continental part of a package of measures launched by the previous Government.
The infrastructure will have an initial capacity of 16 million cubic meters (m3), but the company is designing it so that it has the capacity to treat up to three times that volume, that is, up to 24 million m3 of water.
The Algarve region has suffered, in recent years, cycles of prolonged drought associated with a situation of water scarcity already considered structural, which has resulted in a decrease in the volumes of water stored in the different available sources.
The Portuguese-Spanish consortium of companies that will build the desalination plant will also be in charge of “exploiting the project for a period of three years” once the work is completed, according to Águas do Algarve.
Luís Montenegro is accompanied at the contract signing ceremony by Maria da Graça Carvalho, Minister of Environment and Energy, and by Manuel Castro Almeida, Vice Minister of Territorial Cohesion.
Águas do Algarve is the public company responsible for the water supply in the region and is responsible for the management of infrastructure such as dams or Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP).
Source: Observadora
