Dubai is planning to move its wastewater by gravity instead of pumps, and it’s a $22 billion undertaking. The Dubai Strategic Sewerage Tunnels project will bore more than 200 kilometers of deep tunnels under the city, replacing an aging network of pumping stations with a gravity-fed system feeding treatment plants at Warsan and Jebel Ali. It’s structured as a 30-year design-build-finance-operate-and-maintain concession.
Project Scope
The program splits into three parts: Package W at Warsan, Package J at Jebel Ali, and a Links package connecting existing facilities to the main tunnels. In early 2026 Dubai Municipality named preferred bidders, a consortium led by Etihad Water & Electricity for the roughly $3 billion Warsan package, and a group led by Vision Invest and Suez for the roughly $2 billion Jebel Ali package. Parsons is providing program management. Tunnel construction contracts are expected around 2030, with the deep infrastructure phased over the decades that follow.
Why It Matters
Pumping stations are the weak link in a hot, fast-growing city’s sewer network: they consume power, need constant maintenance, and fail under load. Shifting to deep gravity tunnels cuts operating costs and adds capacity for decades of population growth. Financing it through a long P3 concession moves the upfront cost and operating risk onto private partners, a model Dubai has used to accelerate infrastructure other cities would fund on the public balance sheet.
Project Team & Details
| Owner / Client | Dubai Municipality |
|---|
| Consultants | Parsons (Program Management) |
|---|
| Status | Planned |
|---|
| Delivery Method | Public-Private Partnership (P3) |
|---|
| Funding Source | Public-Private Partnership (P3) |
|---|
