Doha

FCC Aqualia participates for the first time in the Arab Future Cities Summit 2015, the Middle East's most representative meeting for technological and intelligent solutions. The event, held in Doha, is this region's most important meeting on smart cities. In its fourth edition the event will attract more than 500 senior executives to discuss progress, efficient management of resources, future developments and how to make the cities of the future operate better in the Middle East.

The water subsidiary of the FCC Group will have a networking area within the VIP Lounge of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel of Doha, where it will present two of its most successful and innovative initiatives: the water management project Smart Water, the most advanced in Europe from a technological point of view, with the second phase currently being implemented in the city of Santander. This project allows for a much more efficient management of the service, which is transparent for users, providing them with real time information, as well as recording the data obtained within the unique technological platform of SmartSantander.

On its part, the All-gas project attempts to prove that it is possible to sustainably produce biofuels based on the low cost cultivation of microalgae from waste water. This would modify the current paradigm of purification, a process that currently implies high energy costs. All-gas would involve the valuation of waste water for the production of bioenergy. This innovation is co-financed by the European Union's FP7 Program.

The Middle East is at the forefront in the development of Smart Cities Solutions to satisfy the demands for energy and resources from a large and growing urban population. The region's transition from a knowledge-based economy to a resource-based economy is feeding even further the concept of smart cities. With this challenge, representatives from some of the most advanced companies, like Cisco, Schneider, Microsoft, Intel, Huawei or Accenture, amongst others, debate during these days in the capital of Qatar.

Precisely last December FCC Aqualia, in a consortium formed with MACE and the Korean company Hyundai, was awarded a contract for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the waste water treatment installations, transfer pumping stations and associated water traps of the city of Al Dhakhira, in Qatar. This city is located on the eastern coast of the country, about 60 kilometres from the capital, Doha.