Madrid, May 30, 2005. – Befesa Medio Ambiente, the leading company of Abengoa’s Environmental Services Business Unit, through its subsidiary Befesa Construcción y Tecnología Ambiental, has been selected by the Marismas del Guadalquivir Irrigation User Community, in a Joint Venture with Construcciones Alpi, to execute the modernization and consolidation works of its irrigation area, in Seville. The contract value is 60 million euro, and the execution period 30 months.

The project will mean the modernization of the User Community’s 12,836 hectares and it will benefit some 1,152 farmers and the current channel and ditch irrigation system will be replaced by a localized system. These works will enable the saving of more than sixteen million cubic meters of water per year on the User Community’s lands. The project that extend throughout the Seville municipal districts of Dos Hermanas, Utrera, Las Cabezas de San Juan, Los Palacios and Villafranca, which cover the villages of Pinzón, El Trobal, Chapatales, Vetaherrado, San Leandro, Marismillas, Trajano and part of Maribáñez, where cotton, sugar beet and corn are the main crops.

For this purpose, two reservoirs with an overall capacity of more than five million cubic liters, five pumping stations for water capturing and pressurization of fourteen cubic meters per second of irrigation water, three filtering stations and 503 kilometers of pressurized piping for the primary, secondary and tertiary irrigation networks to the plot draw-offs, will be constructed. In addition, equipment to automate and remotely control the hydraulic system and water consumption will be installed. The objective of these activities is to provide the area with the infrastructure required to ensure a flexible and secure service, while enabling the highest possible level of water saving.

According to Befesa’s chairman, Javier Molina, “this modernization program will allow the socioeconomic development of the Marismas del Guadalquivir irrigation area to be maintained without endangering the future utilization of its natural resources”.

Befesa will also implement the infrastructure required to centralize command and control of the entire irrigation area which, currently, has a very poor level of automation with the resulting losses of irrigation time and water, or unsuitable operation which results in more costly operation.

“With these works, that optimize water utilization and management, we guarantee considerable water savings which is essential to enable competitive agriculture. In addition, this project consolidates Befesa’s traditional leadership in irrigation activities”, concluded Mr. Molina.

For this project, the user Community will receive a 40 million euro subvention from the Regional Government of Andalusia, 60% co-funded by the European Union and which is included in the support framework for the modernization, transformation and consolidation of Andalusia irrigation areas, for which public spending close to 321 million euro and 642 million euro in investments is foreseen from 2000 to 2006.

Befesa’s experience in this sector is widely proven by the execution of similar projects such as those carried out for the Sur-Andevalo User Community, in Huelva, or the irrigation systems for the Guiamets Reservoir User Community, in Tarragona, which were executed last year and required a more than 42 million euro investment.

Befesa, Abengoa’s Environmental Services subsidiary, focuses on providing environmental services for the industrial sector and on the construction of environmental infrastructures. It is a listed company and closed 2004 with stock capital in excess of 393 million euro. In 2004, Befesa managed a total of 1,374,000 tons of industrial wastes, a twelve percent increase on the previous year’s figure. (www.befesa.es).

Abengoa, a listed industrial and technology company with stock capital in excess of 657 million euro (31/12/2004), provides solutions for Sustainable Development, the Information and Knowledge Society, and for the Creation of Infrastructures. It currently operates in four large business sectors: Bioenergy, where it is the world’s No. 2 producer of bioethanol; Environmental Services, where it is leader in Europe in segments of the industrial waste market; Information Technologies, where it is one of the main role players at international level, with operations in Europe, the Americas and Asia; and Industrial Engineering and Construction, where it is leader in Spain and Latin America. (www.befesa.com).