Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction announced on June 27 that it signed a seawater desalination plant construction project with Sazeh Sazan, an Iranian company. The value of the contract is 220 billion won and the plant is to use reverse osmosis technology.

This contract marks the first one of its kind signed by a non-Iranian company in the Iranian seawater desalination market after the lifting of the economic sanctions on Iran. According to it, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction is to carry out repair and maintenance as well as design and equipment supply. The construction process is scheduled to be completed in October 2018 and the South Korean company is to be in charge of repair and maintenance for 12 years starting from the date of completion.

The location of the plant is Bandar Abbas, the capital city of the Hormozgan Province in southern Iran. It is going to produce freshwater for use in mines and have a daily output of approximately 200,000 tons, which can be used at the same time by 670,000 persons.

“We have tried to enter the Iranian market by, for example, signing an MOU with Iran’s National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company in April this year,” said Yoon Seok-won, head of the Water BG of Doosan, adding, “This SAKO Project signed at this time based on the recent summit talks between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will be the starting point to increase our presence in the Iranian water market, which is estimated to grow to reach US$2 billion in 2018.”