Aqualia, a water management company owned by the citizen services group FCC (51%) and the Australian ethical fund IFM Investors (49%), has submitted a bid for the concession of the municipal water service of the municipality of San Javier (Murcia) and La Manga del Mar Menor, which would involve investing more than 80 million euros in infrastructure improvements, in addition to significant technical advances over the first 13 years of the concession. The plan foresees executing half of the investment (42 million euros) in less than three years and the rest (38.7 million euros) in the following ten years.
With these investments that Aqualia proposes, a necessary and intense transformation of a large part of the water infrastructure services would be achieved. Specifically, the company’s bid includes the renovation of some 40,000 metres of supply networks by replacing fibre cement with other more modern and higher performance materials. It also plans to replace more than 75,000 metres of concrete sewerage networks, which due to their nature, age and the effects of road traffic are in an advanced state of deterioration, with others made of PVC, a material with better technical performance in terms of resistance to ground movement and marine infiltration. It also proposes the improvement of the wastewater pumping stations in La Manga del Mar Menor and the renewal of 100 percent of the meters in the first years and again 100 percent in year 10.
For Higinio Martínez, Aqualia’s director in the Region of Murcia, “this area needs to undertake important improvements to its network. We are convinced that the authorities also see this. And we have been able to put together a very attractive offer for the citizens, which combines social responsibility with technical, economic and environmental solvency”. Aqualia’s offer, which involves the renovation of 115 kilometres of pipes, envisages going from the current hydraulic efficiency of 82.5 percent to 92 percent, according to the model proposed by the City Council. In other words, these investments will achieve an improvement in hydraulic efficiency of ten percentage points. This will result in a saving of almost 11 million cubic metres over the historical consumption of the town, which is the current consumption of San Javier and La Manga for three years.
Aqualia is well established in the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia where, since 1980, it has managed services for 270,000 people. It currently operates in 15 towns, including San Pedro del Pinatar and Los Alcázares, in the Mar Menor area. All this means that the company has in-depth knowledge and experience in water management in this area and particularly in the water needs of the Mar Menor area.
