ISRAEL – 4A Desalination Group has petitioned the Jerusalem District Court to disqualify IDE Technologies and Hutchison Water from the tender for construction of the Sorek B desalination plant. The petition alleges that disqualification is necessary after the investigative committee of the Ministry of Energy found that Sorek A desalination plant operation was tainted with planned and systematic fraud. IDE and Hutchison are part owners of the Sorek A plant and the aforementioned bidders cited their experience in operating the Sorek A plant as evidence for meeting the threshold conditions for the current tender. Based on this, 4A Desalination is requesting the court to disqualify the two companies or to not allow the bidders to cite their activity at the Sorek desalination facility as previous experience—thereby excluding the companies from participating in the tender.^[1]

PHILIPPINES – A new joint project, the Mindanao Rural Water Supply Program (MinDaWater), will provide water supply and solar-powered desalination plants to all remote, off-grid and island communities in Minsupala. The Mindano Development Authority (MinDa) and the Israeli agricultural firm LR Group—in collaboration with the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG)—have agreed to develop a technical and financial plan to supply Minsupala villages.

The project will be funded with an initial $500 million loan and can be accessed by local governments at concessional rates through local banks. The LR Group offered to build 6,200 solar-powered irrigation systems with a backup financing payable in 15 years with a three-year grace period. Once the financial and technical details of the MinDaWater program have been finalized, local governments from Mindanao and Palawan will be invited to the roll-out and project implementation this year.^[2]

KENYA – Turkana Governor Josphat Nanok is urging development partners to create a master plan for the desalination of the Lotikipi Aquifer and boreholes with high floridity to address perennial water shortages. Nanok stated that Turkana is not lacking in water, but that the quality of the underground water is the issue. The aquifer in Lotikipi and boreholes around Lake Turkana are saline and fluorinated. A County Executive for Water Services revealed that 93 sites have been identified for drilling of boreholes in the Loima and Turkana sub counties and stated that test pumping of boreholes has already been done at multiple sites.^[3]

SINGAPORE – Utico FZC, the Middle Eastern full-service utility provider, is planning to open a project development, operations and marketing office in Singapore. Utico is planning to staff the new office with around 15 to 20 employees in the next six months. Utico claims their plans to expand to Singapore are separate from its proposed rescue package for Singapore water-treatment firm Hyflux. The company also announced the commissioning of a $202.5 million desalination facility in Al Hamra in Ral Al Khaimah, which will produce 136,382 m³/d and will be operational by 2020.^[4]

^{The Teshie desalination plant was shut down by Ghana Water Company Limited. Credit: citinewsroom.com}

GHANA – The Teshie Desalination Plant has been shut down once again by Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL). Tests conducted by the water company revealed excess chemicals levels, making a shutdown necessary. GWCL stresses that the reason for the shutdown is technical and is not related to contractual disputes between GWCL and the owners of the desalination plant.^[5]