Acciona agrees USD 480m loan for green Saudi sewage treatment projects

Spain’s Acciona SA (BME:ANA) has agreed to get green loans of USD 480 million (EUR 440.56m) to finance the construction of three sewage treatment plants powered by renewable energy in Saudi Arabia.

The financial close for the green loans was agreed with a syndicate of local, regional, and international lenders, Acciona said on Monday. The financing includes an Islamic tranche for 60% of the value of the loans structured as an “Ijara Facility”, or Islamic leasing.

The funding will be used for the realisation of the Madinah-3, Buraydah-2 and Tabuk-2 projects which will treat the wastewater for up to two million people in the kingdom. The recycled water will be used for agriculture purposes while the sewage sludge will serve as fertiliser and for cement manufacturing.

The Madinah-3, Buraydah-2 and Tabuk-2 wastewater treatment plants will be built near the cities of Madinah, Ash Shimasiya and Tabuk, respectively. All three plants will be powered by renewable energy and will have a combined capacity to treat 440,000 m3/day of wastewater and about 95% of it will be available for agriculture use while 5% will be used for the plants.

The projects were awarded by the state-owned Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) and will be implemented by Acciona in cooperation with Riyadh-based infrastructure developer and investor Tamasuk and local partner Tawzea.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.918)

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