Libyan water win for SNC-Lavalin

SNC-Lavalin has won the CA$ 450 million (US$ 441 million) to develop the Al Kufra Wellfield system to feed into Libya's Great Man Made River. The scheme will see another 1.68 million m3 of water per day fed into the network, which transfers water from the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System in the northeastern Sahara to Libya's Northern coastal cities.

SNC-Lavalin's work will include the design and construction of the Al Kufra Wellfield system, which is expected to comprise dome 300 deep wells, along with collector pipes, pumps, the associated power supply and communication systems. In addition, work will be required to increase the capacity of existing pipelines to cope with the additional flow.

SNC-Lavalin executive vice president Riadh Ben Aissa said, "The Great Man Made River Authority has been one of SNC Lavalin's major clients for the last 20 years. This new contract reflects the Authority's confidence in our ability to design and build challenging projects."

Construction on the Al Kufra Wellfield is due to begin shortly and is due for completion in 2015.

The Great Man Made River project was conceived in the 1960s and construction began in 1984. Today it comprises more than 4000 km of concrete pipes - mostly 4 m in diameter - and delivers more than 6 million m3 of water per day, which is extracted from 1300 wells.