Black & Veatch Wins Iraqi Water Contract

(February 13, 2006, as appeared in the Kansas City Business Journal)

Black & Veatch has won a contract to review Baghdad's water supply system and recommend improvements.

The Overland Park-based firm will receive about $800,000 for the five-month study, spokesman Carl Petz said Monday.

Baghdad's primary treatment facility at Al-Karkh is operating around 80 percent of its capacity. The deteriorating water system has caused a "considerable" shortfall in water supply in the Iraqi capital, Petz said.

Black & Veatch will assign 17 employees to work on the project, including five in Iraq. It will do the work for the Mayoralty of Baghdad, which is using a $65 million loan from the World Bank Trust Fund to improve infrastructure and economic conditions.

In 2004, Black & Veatch announced a joint venture with Washington International Inc. to upgrade Iraq's water and electrical infrastructure.

The water work had an initial value of $1.3 million for the two firms, with three one-year options and a ceiling of $600 million.

The electrical work had a $500 million ceiling for the first year and also includes four one-year options, each with a $250 million ceiling.

Black & Veatch continues to do work through those contracts, Petz said, but he doesn't how much the firm has billed for the work.

Black & Veatch had a 30 percent stake in the joint venture.

Black & Veatch ranks No. 1 on the Kansas City Business Journal's list of area engineering firms.

Copyright 2006, Kansas City Business Journal