Madrid, 27 March 2006. ACESA, the Ebro Valley Public Water Company, has awarded Befesa the project to supply water to 46 municipalities in the autonomous region of La Rioja, known as the Oja-Tirón system, worth more than €18 million.

The geographical scope of the project is located in the catchment areas of the rivers Oja, Tiró and Ea where there are drinking water supply difficulties, principally due to the poor water quality and low volume. The poor quality, resulting from the water’s high nitrate content, centres around the confluence of the three rivers, while low volume is suffered by the Montes Obarenes area and areas in the Oja basin.

Befesa will construct the infrastructures required to resolve the supply problems in this region, which includes water catchment, the potable water treatment plant, the distribution pipe network of over 200 kilometres (of which 145 km correspond to new pipeline), four pumping stations to the deposits above the hydraulic grade line of the distribution network and all the supplementary facilities that guarantee the operation of the system to supply a population that is expected to reach 76,000 by 2025.

Javier Molina, Chairman of Befesa, said, “this contract reinforces Befesa’s growth strategy as a company dedicated to constructing infrastructures and operating and providing services for the complete water cycle. We are pleased with the trust that ACESA has placed in Befesa to construct the supply infrastructure that will improve the water quality and flow in this area”.

Befesa, Abengoa’s environmental services subsidiary, focuses on providing environmental services for industry and the construction of environmental infrastructures. It is a listed company and closed the 2005 financial year with treasury stock in excess of 397 million euro and 402.4 million euro in billing. (www.befesa.es).

Abengoa is a technological company that applies innovative solutions for sustainable development in the infrastructure, environment and energy sectors. It is a listed company with treasury stock in excess of 1,800 million euro and is established in more than seventy countries where it operates through its five Business Units; Solar, Bioenergy, Environmental Services, Information Technologies, and Industrial Engineering and Construction. (www.abengoa.com).