Turkish water sell-off

As part of the World Bank and Turkish Ministry of Tourism funded Cesme-Alacati Water Supply and Sewerage Project, Cesme and Alacati Municipalities have recently signed a contract with Babtie Group to provide project management and technical assistance during the privatisation of water and wastewater services.

The Cesme and Alacati Municipalities are adjacent to each other and lie on the Aegean Coast of Turkey, to the west of Izmir. The area is an extremely popular tourist resort and as a result, has a population that varies from about 20,000 to 100,000 during the summer months due to local and foreign tourists.

This major influx of population places a significant burden on the already inadequate water and wastewater systems. Private sector participation has been identified as the most appropriate way forward and the newly formed Union between the two municipalities has just commissioned Babtie Group to assist in the process.

Babtie Group technical director Julian Ruddick, together with representatives of sub-consultant Severn Trent Water International and local specialists NORM and Metin, Ertan & Oran, started work on the project in June and they will be developing prequalification procedures and contract documents over the next few months.

The intention is to issue tender documents to prequalified bidding consortia quickly so that a private operator can be in place for the 1999 peak summer season.