Located in Erongo region of the Namib desert, the desalination plant was designed, constructed and will now be maintained and operated by Keyplan, a specialist water treatment subsidiary of The Aveng Group, on behalf of the French mining and energy giant Areva.
The Aveng Group currently operates and maintains Anglo Coal's eMalahleni plant in South Africa.
Aveng said it would provide skilled personnel to operate the Trekkopje plant over a period of 10 years on a continuous shift basis. "It is envisaged that 41 site based personnel will be employed of which 38 will be Namibian citizens and 3 will be expatriates," it said.
"This contract represents a considerable endorsement of our leading position in water treatment and our ability to manage plants of this size in environmentally hostile environments," said Adrian Viljoen, MD of Keyplan.
"We are proud to partner with Areva in this venture. This desalination plant is 25 times larger than anything we have in South Africa. We have the experience to implement similar solutions here and in other arid areas where water is a severe restriction on industrial and economic growth," he added.
The Trekkopje desalination plant is the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the capacity to deliver 20 million cubic metres per year of treated water.
It is currently delivering high quality potable water to Areva's Trekkopje uranium mine, 50 kilometres away and 500 metres above sea level, through an overland pipeline.
- I-Net Bridge