One step forward, two steps back
Facing a 5 April deadline to remedy asserted defaults at the
Tuaspring Desalination Plant or risk having PUB exercise its
right to terminate the water purchase agreement (WPA) and
take control of the plant, Hyflux requested that PUB extend
the default cure period to 30 April. Last Friday, PUB agreed
to extend the deadline to address the issues with the 318,500
m3/d (84 MGD) plant.
However, the approval is conditional and based on creditors
approval of Hyflux’s reorganization scheme in meetings to be
held on 5 and 8 April, and the completion of the restructuring
steps by 16 April. Among the items to be considered is the
acceptance of a $530 million ($391 million) bailout offer
from Indonesia’s SM Investments (SMI), a consortium
comprising the Salim Group and Medoc Group.
The SMI offer is purportedly at risk because Hyflux is said
to have held back key financial information on which the
offer was based.
In other Hyflux news, the company said on Friday that
Algerian Energy Company has filed an arbitration request
in connection with disputes arising from its 2007 WPA for
the 200,000 m3/d (52.8 MGD) Souk Tleta SWRO project in
Tlemcen, Algeria. Hyflux said it must answer the request by
20 April.
Palestine
SWRO plant quenches a parched region
An inadequate water supply is high on the list of the many
challenges facing Gaza Strip residents. Although it has
one of the highest population densities in the world, Gaza
receives little rain, has no major fresh water source and 97
percent of its coastal aquifer is unfit to drink as a result of
seawater intrusion and contamination from raw sewage. So
the 31 January completion of a 3,785 m3/d (1 MGD) SWRO
plant expansion of the Palestinian Water Authority’s 2,600
m3/d (0.7 MGD) Deir al Balah water plant was something to celebrate.