Dottore Paolo Ricci, Mayor of Arezzo (Italy) and Gérard Mestrallet, CEO and President of the Executive Board of Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux, were present at the signing, yesterday, of the water and wastewater management contract for the City of Arezzo. The contract was won by Lyonnaise des Eaux (the water division of Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux) following an international call for tenders (see the last press release january 1999).

Under the contract, Lyonnaise des Eaux will manage water supplies and wastewater treatment for a syndicate of 37 communes around the city of Arezzo in Tuscany, serving a population of 350,000. This is the first contract to be signed in Italy following enactment of the 1994 Galli Law. This law marks a radical change in Italy's water and wastewater market, modernizing it by setting up regional units that can contract these services out to public or private operators.

The 25-year contract will generate revenues of € 38 million (FRF 250 million) a year. Nuove Acque, the mixed-economy company responsible for operating the contract, consists of AATO, the syndicate of Arezzo communes (51%), and the consortium led by Lyonnaise des Eaux that won the call for tenders.

Through Lyonnaise des Eaux, the no.1 international provider of water services, Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux Group supplies drinking water to 77 million people and wastewater services to 52 million.