El Hamma SWRO
Seawater RO, 200,000 m3/day; single pass, nine reverse osmosis trains, two 550 m direct intake pipes in Algeria.
Operational
The record
- Country
- Algeria
- Location
- Algiers
- Coordinates
- 36.752, 3.079
- Technology
- Seawater RO
- Capacity
- 200,000 m3/day; single pass, nine reverse osmosis trains, two 550 m direct intake pipes
- Capital cost
- US$250 million
- Stage
- Operational
- Owner or client
- Algerian Energy Company, through the Hamma Water Desalination SpA project company, 70 per cent General Electric via Ionics and 30 per cent AEC
- Contractor
- Orascom Construction Industries and Besix in joint venture, under GE Ionics
- Operator
- Algerian Desalination Company; Veolia is the technical partner named on the plant sheet
- Finance
- Twenty-five year build, own and operate; 250 million dollars total with a 200 million dollar Overseas Private Investment Corporation facility, about 75 per cent debt to 25 per cent equity over an 18-year tenor
- Award or start year
- 2005
- Commissioned
- 2008-02
Record last checked 2026-09-18.
History
- 2005-06
Build, own and operate agreement signed on 25 June
- 2005-07
Construction started on a 24-month programme
- 2008-02
Plant opened, Africa's first privately financed seawater reverse osmosis plant
- 2016-07
Won the Overseas Private Investment Corporation Impact Award for critical infrastructure
Sources
11 references
Every field in the record above is taken from the references below. A field that none of them confirms prints as a dash.
- Algerian Desalination Company, El Hamma. aec.dz.
- 200,000 m3/day on a 50,000 m2 site at El Hamma in Algiers, with Veolia as partner.
- GE Water and Process Technologies, Case study CS1338EN (Jun 2016). watertechnologies.com.
- 200,000 m3/day, single pass with nine reverse osmosis trains, two 550 m direct intake pipes, lamella clarification, dual media filtration, 5 micron cartridge filters and remineralisation, completed in 24 months on time and on budget.
- IJGlobal, Hamma time: Algeria's desal project. infrastructure.greenstreet.com.
- Build, own and operate agreement signed 25 June 2005 with construction from July 2005 over 24 months; total cost 250 million dollars with a 200 million dollar OPIC facility at 75:25 debt to equity over 18 years; offtakers Algerienne des Eaux and Sonatrach.
- MEED, Algiers opens Hamma water plant (Feb 2008). meed.com.
- Records the February 2008 opening and the 70:30 GE to AEC split.
- MEED is normally subscriber-walled to human readers.
- GE News, Hamma seawater desalination plant in Algeria honored with OPIC Impact Award (Jul 2016). ge.com.
- MENA Water Review major projects register and PPP pipeline — compiled from procurer publications, development-bank project pages and trade reporting; each record names its source.
Confirms the project company and the twenty-five year operation and maintenance contract. Coordinates from OpenStreetMap way 273163525, tagged name:en=Hamma seawater desalination plant.