Improving the use of water resources in Azerbaijan, ensuring water safety, increasing the supply of drinking water to the population, and bringing new technologies to this field are important in socio-economic development. A Working Group consisting of representatives of relevant institutions was established in the Ministry of Economy, consultants with international experience in technical, financial and legal fields were involved in the implementation of the project in order to implement the Decree of the Head of State on the implementation of the pilot project in the field of drinking water production through desalination of sea water.
The first stage of the competition, which was announced by the Ministry of Economy on February 8, has ended in order to attract potential investors for the project of designing, building, financing and managing a drinking water production plant through sea water desalination within the framework of public-private partnership.
In order to participate in the competition, 8 companies submitted relevant documents to the Ministry of Economy. As per the results of the qualification evaluation, a set of conditions of the competition was sent to 5 companies that met the requirements. Other necessary measures will be taken in the next stage regarding the holding of the competition. Proposals will be submitted by the companies until July 1 of the current year, and then the proposals will be evaluated. As a result of the evaluation of the project proposals, the winner of the competition will be announced and the public-private partnership contract will be concluded.
It is planned to implement the project in Sumgait city, taking into account issues such as water quality, infrastructure condition, environment. The production capacity of the project will be 100 million m3 per year, taking into account the needs of the population and the economy, as well as the results of the country's water forecasts, the demand for drinking water will increase in the coming years.
Drinking water production projects by desalination of sea water are implemented in several countries of the world. Global warming, inefficient use of water resources and increased drought around the world have encouraged the active use of desalination plants for the production of drinking water.
"Reverse Osmosis" technology has been applied in seawater desalination projects around the world in recent years. These projects are implemented in a number of countries with a public-private partnership model. These projects are widespread in Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Israel. Also, desalination plants operate in the USA, Australia and a number of other countries.
