SUEZ bags contract for operating drinking water system of Davanagere

For Suez, a leading global service provider in water treatment, supply and waste management, 2018 could well turn out to be a memorable year , as far as India goes.. The company, which has water treatment and supply as its main calling card in the country, has signed two major contracts within a short span of 45 days. Around the end of January, it had bagged a staggering 400 million euro project from Coimbatore municipality to take care of city water supply for 26 years and recently on the occasion of the official visit to India by the French President Emmanuel Macron , the company has inked yet another important deal. The company this time has bagged the contract from Devanagere City Corporation, a city located in central Karnataka, to ensure smooth supply of drinking water to the city’s nearly half a million population for the next 12 years. The project cost has been pegged at 70 million euro. The agreement was signed by Manjunath Ballari, Commissioner of Davanagere City Corporation, and Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO of SUEZ, who was visiting India as part of French President’s business delegation.

Davanagere City, a textile hub, is among the 10 municipalities chosen for the “Smart Cities” program launched by the Indian government. The contract awarded to SUEZ does not simply entail supplying drinking water but the company has also been entrusted with the responsibility of rehabilitation and maintenance of the three drinking water production plants with a capacity of 120 000 m3/day. As part of the deal, the company will also set up a new water distribution system covering an area of 75 square km bringing 92,000 buildings (80,000 residential and 12,000 commercial or industrial buildings) in the network.

SUEZ has committed completing the rehabilitation and new distribution system part of the deal in four years times and then will spearhead the operation and maintenance of the water production plants and the drinking water system for the following eight years. “SUEZ has been supporting large municipalities since 2012, including Delhi, Bangalore and, more recently, Kolkata and Coimbatore, to improve drinking water services for a rapidly-growing population. We are proud of this new contract, which illustrates the Group’s commitment to providing local authorities with reliable and tailored solutions to respond to the growing challenge of drinking water access” says Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO of the SUEZ Group.