DOHA: The Syrian-Qatari Holding (SQH), Syria’s largest holding company equally owned by Syria and Qatar has added sewage treatment plants to its project portfolio in Syria with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday.
The Syrian Minister of Housing and Construction, Engineer Omar Ibrahim Ghalawenji and Chairman of SQH, Nasser Hassan Al Ansari signed the MoU to build two sewage treatment plants in the suburb of Damascus and in the city of Swuedah.
The MoU was signed on the sidelines of the Private Public Partnership Conference organised by the British Syrian Society held from October 30 to November 1 at the Umayyad Congress Palace in Damascus at which SQH is participating.
SQH CEO, Hassan Mukayed said: “This partnership with the Ministry of Housing and Construction contributes to answering the country’s need for clean water for industrial and agricultural use.”
“Our investment in the sewage treatment plants will also play an important part in preventing water pollution in Damascus suburbs, Swuedah and the neighbouring areas.
“This project is fully in-line with SQH’s focus on the development of infrastructure projects that can contribute to Syria’s economic development and the well-being of its citizens”.
The MoU comes after the Syrian Ministry of Housing and Construction announced that the country needed around 183 sewage treatment plants. SQH is currently considering partnerships with a few potential strategic regional and global companies for executing the project.
SQH will invest in the project on a Build-Operate-Transfer ‘BOT’ basis.
The Ministry of Housing and Construction will provide the land and relevant infrastructure. The ministry will also be responsible for delivering the waste water to the treatment facility, as well as ensuring that an off-take of the output is provided.
SQH said it is committed to introducing leading and pioneering investment opportunities to the Syrian market across different industries, setting sights on becoming the leading investment firm and partner of choice in Syria by investing in several other sectors such as power generation, agriculture, dairy and juices, phosphate fertilisers, healthcare, real estate and financial services.
© The Peninsula 2009
