Clearford signs sagreement with Upper South Utilities 

Clearford Industries Inc. yesterday announced that the company has signed an agreement with The Upper South Utilities Limited ("USUL") to negotiate and enter into sewerage infrastructure projects for up to fifteen of the islands ("Projects") located in the Upper South Province, using Clearford's SBS system.

According to website, DigitalJournal, the parties have agreed to work in good faith to establish a binding contract for construction and financing that enables the Maldives to pay for the Clearford infrastructure over a 20 year period. The estimated value of the servicing program is $40,000,000 dollars.

Currently, sanitary sewers are installed on fewer than 12 of the inhabited islands. The islands are coral and sand structures with a very porous nature and as a result the ground water on the un-serviced islands is often contaminated by onsite disposal of human sewage. Due to this circumstance, residents on many of the islands rely upon both rainwater harvesting and commercially available bottled water as their sources of drinking and cooking water, with no alternative but to use contaminated groundwater for other household purposes.  Improving the groundwater so as to minimize risk is considered the most effect way of developing a sustainable water supply, by avoiding total reliance on costly desalinated water as the main source of supply. The groundwater can only be improved by providing an appropriate piped wastewater collection system.

The Government has established seven nation wide Provinces in order to decentralize government services, avoiding the need for the islands to rely on Male's central administration and control.  Each Province has been provided with a utility company, with a mandate to provide commercially sustaining essential services to the islands within their territories. The Government wholly owns these utility companies. The Upper South Utilities Limited operates under this government mandate to provide water and sewerage services to the islands in the Upper South Province. The Upper South Province's initial project has placed a priority on fifteen islands within its territory. 

The intention of this agreement is for the parties to work together to secure financing, design and implementation of the Projects using the Clearford waste-water collection and treatment process so as to enable collection and treatment of sewage on the un-serviced islands.  This agreement provides Clearford with an exclusive right to work with USUL for six months to secure financing terms from International Banking sources, for the Projects, payment being fully guaranteed by Maldives. Financing terms refers to Reconstruction and Development terms having a low interest rate and a moratorium of repayment acceptable to USUL.

"The Maldives has been one of the 10 priority countries for Clearford during the last year of international business development. We have interacted with and made proposals for servicing on some of the islands over this period. I am confident that we have a very knowledgeable customer and an optimal technical solution for their requirement" commented Bruce Linton, President and CEO of Clearford.