Clearford signs $40M sewer servicing contract in Maldives


Clearford Industries Inc. (TSX-V:CLI) will undertake a major $40-million upgrade of the sewage system in the Republic of Maldives, a previously identified priority area for international business development.

The Ottawa-based water management system provider aims to partner with the government-owned Upper South Utilities Ltd. to improve the infrastructure and groundwater on 15 of the 1,000 islands, which lie just southwest of India. Clearford said there are only 12 islands with sanitary sewers right now.

Under the terms of the contract, the government of the Maldives will pay back Clearford over a 20-year period.

"The islands are coral and sand structures with a very porous nature, and as a result the ground water on the unserviced islands is often contaminated by onsite disposal of human sewage," Clearford stated.

"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."

Clearford and USUL will work together for six months towards gaining financing, as well as creating a design and working on the implementation of the system.

Earlier in January, Clearford announced a $150,000 contract to install its patented Small Bore Sewer System, which can clean up even small amounts of water, in a community near Orillia.

In its third-quarter results released Nov. 26, Clearford saw its net loss widen to $530,038 or $0.01 per share from $466,968 or $0.02 last year.

About Clearford Industries Inc.

Clearford Industries Inc is the developer of the patented Small Bore Sewer ™ (SBS™), a watertight small diameter wastewater collection system that provides servicing with superior operational and environmental performance at a significantly lower cost when compared to historic gravity sewers. With the SBS™ as the enabling technology, Clearford delivers, on a global basis, turnkey, fixed-price wastewater collection, treatment, and energy generation solutions that are ideally suited for:

* water-scarce regions,
* those with unreliable water distribution networks,
* existing communities requiring servicing, whether or not they currently have on-site sanitary disposal systems, and
* new developments seeking a greener approach to water and wastewater management.

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