Ministry of Defence and C2C Project Teams outside Imperial War Museum, London.

Public-private partnerships, which have been growing in popularity in the U.S. water and wastewater industry for the past several years, also are becoming more common in other parts of the world. The announcement of such a unique collaboration in November 2004 highlighted the emergence of these partnerships internationally.

Coast to Coast Water Ltd. (C2C), a joint venture of Severn Trent Services and Costain, a U.K.-based engineering and consulting group, has been awarded a contract by the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) to deliver water and wastewater services to approximately 1,500 MOD sites throughout southeast, east and north England. The 25-year contract known as Project Aquatrine is valued at $1.9 billion and is scheduled to take effect in April 2005.

Project Aquatrine is the first major public-private partnership in the U.K. water sector in which water and wastewater services will be provided for a widely dispersed area outside of the regulated water industry. The contract calls for the transfer of responsibility for the maintenance and operation of the MOD’s water and wastewater assets to the private sector while the MOD concentrates on its core defence activities.

Severn Trent Services is a leader in public-private partnerships that provide water and wastewater services to American municipalities. The company operates facilities at 400 municipal locations throughout the United States.

Speaking for the U.K. Ministry of Defence, second permanent under-secretary Ian Andrews said, "We look forward to a successful long-term partnership, which will bring private sector expertise and capital into the management of the Department's water and wastewater infrastructure.”

Severn Trent Services chief executive, and C2C Holdings Chairman, Len Graziano said, “It is a great privilege to enter into this 25-year agreement under which we will deliver important water and wastewater services in an environmentally responsible way. C2C’s goal in serving the Ministry of Defence is the same as it is with all our public-private partnerships – to ensure that this partnering arrangement is mutually beneficial.”

For more information, contact Severn Trent Services at info@severntrentservices.com.

[ x ] Close Window