Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan Caspian Sea Desalination Project (AIIB-001126)

Regions
  • Europe and Central Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Azerbaijan
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Sumgait Industrial Park
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Sep 1, 2026
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Caspian Sea Azerbaijan Project Company (ACWA Power)
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Infrastructure
  • Water and Sanitation
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 45.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 45.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 431.50 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Corporate Actor Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ AIIB website

Updated in EWS Aug 24, 2026

Disclosed by Bank Aug 10, 2026

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the AIIB, the project development objective is to enhance water supply and security through the financing of a seawater reverse osmosis ("SWRO") desalination plant with a capacity of 300,000 m3 per day in Azerbaijan.

The Project involves the development, construction, and operation of a seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant on the Caspian Sea, with a planned production capacity of approximately 300,000 m3/day of Product Water. The Plant will be located in Sumgait Industrial Park on the Caspian Sea shoreline, occupying approximately 12.7 hectares areas. The site is equipped with connections to the electricity network and an electrical substation with sufficient capacity to meet the Project's power requirements during both construction and operation period. The Project will be Azerbaijan's first large-scale Caspian Sea SWRO desalination plant and the country's first public-private partnership (PPP) project in the water sector.

The PPP Agreement was signed in December 2025 between ACWA Power, as sponsor, and the Azerbaijan State Water Resources Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ADSEA), as offtaker, for a 25-year term commencing from the Scheduled Project Commercial Operation Date. The Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Azerbaijan will backstop ADSEA's payment obligations during the operation period. ACWA Power is currently the sole sponsor of the Project. A special purpose vehicle, Caspian Sea Azerbaijan Project Company, has been established and will act as the Borrower.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated by Bloomberg, ACWA Power Co provides utility services. The Company develops, owns, and operates seawater desalination and power generation projects. ACWA Power serves customers worldwide.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - ACWA Power Company Client Energy

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

AIIB Team Leader:

Amit Kumar - Principal Investment Officer
Email: amit.kumar@aiib.org

Danurachman Krishana - Investment Officer
Email: danurachman.krishana@aiib.org

Borrower - Caspian Sea Azerbaijan Project Company

Dr. Uygar Durgunay - Executive Managing Officer, Caspian Sea Azerbaijan Project Company
Email: udurgunay@acwapower.com

Parent Company - ACWA Power:

Mohamed Youssef - Director, BD, ACWA Power
Email: myoussef@acwapower.com

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.aiib.org/en/contact/information-request/index.html

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF AIIB

The AIIB has established the Accountability Mechanism for Project-Affected People (PPM). The PPM provides Òan opportunity for an independent and impartial review of submissions from Project-affected people who believe they have been or are likely to be adversely affected by AIIBÕs failure to implement the ESP in situations when their concerns cannot be addressed satisfactorily through Project level GRMs or AIIB Management processes.Ó Two or more project-affected people can file a complaint. Under the current AIIB policy, when the bank co-finances a project with another development bank, it may apply the other bank's standards. You can refer to the Project Summary Information document to find out which standards apply. You can learn more about the PPM and how to file a complaint at: https://www.aiib.org/en/about-aiib/who-we-are/project-affected-peoples-mechanism/how-we-assist-you/index.html

The complaint submission form can be accessed in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Bengali, Chinese, English, Tagalog, Hindi, Nepali, Russian, Turkish, or Urdu. The submission form can be found at: https://www.aiib.org/en/about-aiib/who-we-are/project-affected-peoples-mechanism/submission/index.html

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How it works