WORK has finally begun on Gibraltar’s first sewage treatment plant after two previous attempts failed.
Ground was broken on Friday at the ex-Brewery Crusher site in Europa Point, Gibraltar’s southern-most point.
It came a day after planning permission was granted for enabling works at the site.
Contractor Eco Waters Ltd and its subcontractors were on site as Environment Minister John Cortes and CEO Stephen Warr paid a visit.
Initial works include securing the site, clearing rubble and preparing the ground.
Minister for the Environment John Cortes said the breakthrough was ‘almost a dream come true’.
“After all the problems we’ve had through the years in providing our much needed waste water treatment plant, this is almost a dream come true,” Cortes said.
“We are finally breaking ground and the detailed design work is progressing fast,” he said.
“We have always been committed to this and look forward to progressing the project to completion,” he said.
The plant has been a Gibraltar government manifesto pledge since 2011, but two previous attempts to build a plant both collapsed.
A £22 million (€25 million) contract awarded to a joint venture between Modern Water Services and Northumbrian Services in 2014 fell through when the operator ran into financial trouble.
A second preferred bidder also went into administration before construction could begin.
READ MORE: Gibraltar makes first arrests for entering the Rock illegally since border opened up
Eco Waters Ltd was named preferred bidder in July 2023, and was awarded a 25-year contract to design, build, finance and operate the plant.
Gibraltar’s sewage system uses seawater rather than fresh water for flushing, which officials say has made building a plant more technically complex.
The new plant will have an initial capacity of 26,000 cubic metres of wastewater a day, rising to 36,000 cubic metres by 2049.
It will be built alongside a new pump station at Little Bay, linked by a pipeline running through the Keightley Way Tunnel.
Full construction is expected to take around two years.
Gibraltar has never had a sewage treatment plant, with waste pumped untreated into the sea for decades.
The issue was thrust into the spotlight by a Guardian investigation in May, which documented wet wipes and sewage debris washing up near Europa Point.
Spanish environmental group Verdemar has separately called for Gibraltar’s removal from the EU’s Emerald Network over the discharges.
The group claims over a million cubic metres of untreated wastewater is released into the sea every year.
The lack of treatment has also drawn legal scrutiny in the past.
The European Court of Justice ruled in 2017 that the UK had breached EU wastewater law by failing to treat sewage from Gibraltar.
Brexit later stripped the EU of its power to enforce that ruling.
Click here to read more Gibraltar News from The Olive Press.
