Atotonilco Waste Water Treatment Plant

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In December 2009, a consortium led by IDEAL [Mexico] was awarded a 25-year contract to design, build and operate the Atotonilco Waste Water Treatment Plant in the Valley of Mexico on BOT basis. The Atotonilco wastewater treatment plant would have a nominal treatment capacity of 23 m 3/s, with an additional capacity for rainfed treatment during periods of high rainfall of 12 m3/s, for total accumulated capacity of 35 m3/s. At the time of contract signing, this was to be the largest WWTP ever tendered. The BOT contract was signed in January 2010. The project was awarded via a competitive tender that started in May 2009 and concluded in December 2009. While the many companies showed interest in the project only two consortia submitted final offers: one led by Mexican IDEAL and the other by Spanish OHL. The winning consortium formed Aguas Tratadas del Valle del Mexico SA de CV (ATVM) as the project company. ATVM was comprised of IDEAL [40.8%, Mexico], Atlatec [subsidiary of Mitsui Japan] and Acciona Agua [Spain] with 24.26% each, ICA [10.2%, Mexico] and several minority partners making up the rest. The winning bid indicate a project cost of MXN10 billion (US$793 million), and proposed a treatment tariff of MXN1.71/m3 ($0.13/m3). The proposal submitted by IDEAL led consortium included solutions for the removal and final disposal of sludge and biosolids, as well as construction of a biomass power cogeneration plant. OHL consortium submitted a bid that was 4.5% cheaper but was missing crucial project documents and its bid was disqualified by Conagua. The total project cost was approximately US$793 million. In August 2010, financial closing took place through a senior loan syndication led by Banobras for MXL 2912.54 (US $230.4 million), a grant from Fonadin for MXL 4599.24 (US $363.8 million), and equity from the project sponsors. The benefits from the project were expected to be: To treat more than 60% of the wastewater produced in the Valley of Mexico •To irrigate with treated wastewater more than 80 thousand hectares in the Tula Valley, thus enhancing the region’s agricultural potential •To restore the good conditions of the surface water bodies and streams that receive wastewater •To improve the sanitation conditions of over 300 000 people who live in irrigation zones At the time the project was awarded, more than 90% of Mexico City’s wastewater was piped north to Hidalgo state to be used untreated for alfalfa irrigation, which posed serious health and environmental problems.