Tehran Wastewater Company has signed a contract, worth €125 million ($140 million), with Turkey's industrial and construction contractor Kuzu Group on building a wastewater treatment plant in southwest Tehran.
The project will be funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Asqar Riazati, managing director of Tehran Wastewater Company, was quoted as saying by IRNA on Tuesday.
"Kuzu Group was awarded the project in an international tender," the official said without providing details. He added that the IDB has verified the tender.
Founded in 1975, IDB is a large international financial development institute and one of the specialized institutions of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. More than 50 countries from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas are members of the bank, with Iran being the fourth largest shareholder.
“Two years ago, Tehran Wastewater Company received a loan from IDB to fund two projects: drilling a 12-kilometer tunnel for transferring wastewater using tunnel boring machines (TBM) and construction of a wastewater treatment plant with four units in the capital,” the official said.
The wastewater tunnel project started operations two years ago.
According to Riazati, the wastewater plant is due to be built over 45 hectares with a capacity to purify 190 million cubic meters of wastewater annually for agricultural use.
The plant, which will also include a sludge treatment unit, is expected to become fully operational by 2020.
----- Energy Ties
Following the removal of international sanctions in January, Turkish firms have shown strong interest in Iran’s water and power projects.
In June, Turkish energy firm Unit International signed a $4.2 billion deal with Iran’s Energy Ministry to build seven gas power plants, in what was described as the biggest investment in post-sanctions Iran.
The power stations, to be built in seven separate regions in Iran, Turkey’s eastern neighbor, would have a combined installed capacity of 6,020 megawatts, the company said in a statement, Reuters reported.
Construction of the seven plants is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2017.
Arash Kordi, managing director of Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir), said on Tuesday that Iran ranks first in the Middle East and 14th in the world in terms of installed power generation capacity.
Iran's nominal power generation capacity stands at over 75,000 MW, with 62,000 MW coming from thermal power plants, 12,000 MW from hydroelectric plants and only 1,000 MW from nuclear power.
According to reports, Saudi Arabia and Iraq's installed power generation capacities are 55,000 MW and 17,000 MW respectively.
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