Middle East Business
Principal components of Abu Dhabi's 2.4 billion dollar seawater scheme in testing and commissioning
By Staff Writer | 17 August 2026
The consortium delivering Project Wave, the 30-year seawater treatment and supply concession serving the Bab and Bu Hasa fields, reports principal components of the scheme in the testing and commissioning phase, as the contractor leading it posts a record 10.9 billion dollar construction backlog.
Orascom Construction, the Abu Dhabi and Cairo listed contractor, said in its half-year results published on 14 August that testing and commissioning is under way on principal components of Project Wave, the large-scale seawater treatment and water supply project it is delivering in Abu Dhabi with Metito alongside ADNOC and TAQA. The scheme, worth up to 2.4 billion dollars, is structured as a build, own, operate and transfer concession running for 30 years, with the contractor leading the consortium for the engineering, procurement and construction scope.
The project comprises a greenfield seawater nanofiltration plant with a treatment capacity of more than 110 million imperial gallons a day, equivalent to 500,000 cubic metres, together with seawater intake and outfall facilities, pumping stations, a water transmission pipeline of approximately 75 kilometres, and an in-field distribution network of more than 230 kilometres supporting reservoir pressure maintenance at the Bab and Bu Hasa fields.
The company states that the scheme will replace the aquifer water injection systems currently used to maintain reservoir pressure in the onshore fields, securing water supply for those operations while preserving the UAE's natural aquifer resources, and raising energy efficiency by up to 30 per cent against the present injection system.
While the operating environment remains uncertain, our record backlog provides a solid foundation, and our strong balance sheet, strict project controls, and disciplined execution leave us well placed to address the opportunities and challenges of the second half of the year.
Osama Bishai, Chief Executive Officer of Orascom Construction
A record backlog behind the milestone
The commissioning progress was reported alongside a strong set of half-year numbers. The group's consolidated construction backlog reached a record 10.9 billion dollars at 30 June, up 13.9 per cent year on year, with new awards in the first half rising 41.9 per cent to 4.8 billion dollars. Revenue for the half rose 52.3 per cent to just under 3 billion dollars, and net profit attributable to shareholders rose 90 per cent to 115.3 million dollars. Backlog across the Middle East and Africa stood at 6.9 billion dollars.
Testing and commissioning is the stage at which a concession of this kind converts construction risk into operating revenue: the tests that prove the plant performs are also the gateway to the 30-year term in which the consortium owns and operates the asset it has built.
What the structure means for the parties
Under the concession, the developers carry the works through a special purpose vehicle rather than under a conventional employer and contractor arrangement, so the parties proving the plant at commissioning are also the parties who will own its performance for the next three decades. That alignment is the argument for the build, own, operate and transfer model on water infrastructure of this scale, and it is why commissioning results carry commercial weight well beyond practical completion.
For the region's water sector, the scheme's progress from construction into testing will be read closely by the sponsors of the next generation of concession-based water schemes. The half-year statement gives the scheme's owners a public marker that the asset is approaching operations; the next will be the start of commercial supply.