OMAN; UNITED ARAB EMIRATES —Veolia has expanded its desalination business in the Middle East through two contracts with a combined value of nearly €200 million, covering facilities in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The agreements involve a five-year operational management assignment at the Al Asilah plant in Oman and design and technology services for the Al Hamriyah desalination facility in the UAE.
The larger infrastructure development is the Al Hamriyah project, where Veolia is responsible for plant design and the integration of water treatment technologies. The facility is planned to produce 410,000 cubic metres of drinking water daily, serving approximately 1.4 million people. Its treatment system will incorporate dissolved air flotation, dual-media pressure filtration and limestone-based remineralization. The integrated configuration is designed to achieve electricity consumption of 2.75 kilowatt-hours per cubic metre of water produced.
In Oman, Veolia has received a five-year contract to operate and improve the performance of the Al Asilah desalination plant, which has a production capacity of 80,000 cubic metres per day and supplies approximately 200,000 residents. The facility includes an on-site solar farm, while operational improvements will involve Smart Connectors and Hubgrade digital solutions. These systems are intended to strengthen equipment monitoring, identify performance inefficiencies and optimize electricity consumption.
The combined developments address growing demand for reliable drinking water across the Gulf, where limited freshwater resources, population growth and expanding industrial activity are increasing pressure on existing water infrastructure. Desalination is consequently an important component of national water security strategies in both countries. Improving the energy efficiency of these facilities is also significant because electricity consumption represents a major operational consideration for large-scale desalination operations.
The projects have implications for the water treatment, engineering, infrastructure and digital technology sectors. The Al Hamriyah facility demonstrates the commercial importance of integrating pretreatment and remineralization technologies into large desalination systems, while the Al Asilah assignment highlights opportunities in long-term operations and maintenance services. Digital monitoring and solar-powered infrastructure could also help operators manage operating costs and reduce the environmental footprint of water production.
For Veolia, the contracts strengthen its regional presence and support its objective of increasing operated desalination capacity to 1.4 million cubic metres per day by 2030. The company already operates four large-scale desalination facilities in Oman and has established projects across the UAE, including Hassyan, Mirfa 2 and Umm Al Quwain. Its technologies have been used in approximately 18% of the world's installed desalination capacity.
Veolia is a France-based environmental services group operating across water management, waste treatment and energy services. Its water technology business develops and supplies solutions for drinking water production, wastewater treatment and industrial water management. The latest contracts reinforce its position in the Middle Eastern water infrastructure market, where demand for efficient desalination capacity is expected to remain strategically important for governments, utilities and industrial water users.
