The water and wastewater utility company of the City of Monterrey, Mexico, has awarded the Monterrey VI aqueduct PPP project to a consortium composed by Empresas ICA's subsidiary Controladora de Operaciones de Infraestructura, RECSA and Grupo HIGA.

The team beat competition from Abeinsa Infraestructuras Medio Ambiente, the local subsidiary of Spanish group Abengoa which also submitted proposal for the project in August this year.

The aqueduct will have a length of 372 km with a design capacity of 5m3/s; the project also includes the construction of an intake station, a work of a primary sump pump, a sludge treatment plant and 6 pumping stations. Water delivered to the Cerro Prieto - Monterrey system will be delivered to the Monterrey Metropolitan Area for use.

The project will be developed on a design, build, operation and transfer (DBOT) basis. The PPP contract includes a total investment of US$1,100 million, a construction period of 3 years and an operation period of 27 years.

Regarding the financial structure of the project, the Federal Government through the FONADIN furnish resources in an amount equal to 21.74% of the investment and the other resources will be funded through debt and equity. BANOBRAS has implemented a scheme to guarantee the payment of the O&M fee of the operator and thus make the project bankable.

The project aims to ensure the water supply at the City of Monterrey (4.5 million) for the next 50 years. 

Monterrey is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León. Monterrey city has a population of about 1.1 million inhabitants and its metropolitan area has a population of about 3.7 million inhabitants.