Tunisia: Befesa edges out Spanish rivals in Djerba showdown

Tunisia’s national water utility Sonede confirmed that a Befesa-led consortium has won a 22-year contract to build, own and operate a new 50,000m3/d SWRO desalination plant on the island of Djerba.

The long-running tender process for what is Tunisia’s first desalination BOT project came to a head in April, when a rival Inima/aqualia consortium emerged as the apparent low bidder by a whisker. The financial bids were as follows: Inima/aqualia (TND1.1300/m3 / $0.78/m3); Acciona (TND1.1347/m3 / $0.79/m3); and Befesa (TND1.17/m3 / $0.81/m3). A 75% weighting was given to the technical proposal, however.

The Befesa consortium was the only group to feature a local firm, Princesse Holding. The two companies will have a 6-month window to assemble a financing package once the water offtake agreement has been signed with Sonede. A 50:50 debt-to-equity split is anticipated, with 100% ownership of the project company by the developer consortium.