Kuwait has signed a deal with a Kharafi-led international consortium to build the world's largest sewage treatment plant in a build-operate-transfer (BOT) project worth some KD116 million ($378 million).

Kharafi, a family-owned Kuwaiti group, bid for the Sulaibiya Wastewater Treatment and Reclamation Plant tender Ñ the first international BOT project in Kuwait Ñ in alliance with Ionics and Bechtel of the US and Britain's United Utilities.

The consortium is to build the plant within three years and operate it for 25 years to produce potable-quality treated water for non-potable use.

'It will be capable of reclaiming 300,000 cu m per day of water....with the capability to be expanded to 600,000 cu m per day,' Kharafi said.

Ionics said the systems it 'will design and supply to the Sulaibiya project incorporate the latest advances in membrane-based water treatment technology...'.

The deal comes after months of delays, internal debates and domestic controversy which at times involved visiting Western officials and diplomats.

The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) is reported to be arranging a KD110 million ($358 million) loan for the consortium.