[THE INVESTOR] Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction has secured a 220 billion won (US$187 million) deal to build a desalination plant in Iran, the company said Monday.

Doosan was the first global firm to have won a seawater purification plant construction project in the Middle Eastern country after international economic sanctions were lifted from it earlier this year, added the firm.

The deal was signed with an Iranian private firm Sazeh Sazan. The South Korean builder will be in charge of designing and constructing the plant for reverse osmosis water filters, and maintaining the facility for 12 years upon its completion in 2018.



The plant, which is to be constructed in Bandar Abbas, the capital of Hormozagan province in southern Iran, will filter about 200,000 tons of water a day, equivalent to the water volume that could be supplied to 670,000 people at the same time, Doosan said.

“Taking the first project as the foundation, we will strengthen our efforts to target the water market in Iran estimated at $2 billion in 2018,” said Yoon Seok-won, head of Doosan’s water business group.

Before the Iran project, Doosan had secured a 450 billion won project in Doha, Qatar, to build a plant for reverse osmosis filters, the company added.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)