OREANDA-NEWS. Seqwater has selected Wood Group as its partner in a new collaborative contract to maintain the South East Queensland (SEQ) Water Grid in Australia and water supply assets that serve 3.1 million South East Queenslanders.

The innovative partnership will see the formation of a single maintenance team, which leverages expertise and capabilities across the two companies.

Approximately 70 new jobs will be created within Wood Group under the five-year contract, which takes effect on October 1, 2016.

Seqwater CEO Peter Dennis said the water authority went to market looking for a true partner.

"The people in our maintenance team are experts in their fields. We wanted to extend that team by joining forces with an organisation we could work together with to build on our strengths and capabilities and help us to further improve our systems and processes.

"Under this new arrangement Wood Group is our partner, not just a service provider. Our people will work as one team to keep the water flowing and maintain South East Queensland's extensive network of bulk water assets.

"Seqwater looks forward to working with Wood Group to deliver the best value maintenance services for our essential water supply infrastructure, and support our promise to the community – Water for life."

Robin Watson, Wood Group's chief executive said: "Wood Group has 19 years' experience delivering maintenance services to the water industry in Australia.

"This new collaborative contract is testament to our strong knowledge and broad capabilities, which will enable us to work with Seqwater to enhance value, efficiency and productivity.

"We will leverage our expertise in electrical, instrumentation, mechanical, pipeline and civil maintenance to support Seqwater's diverse portfolio of assets, including dams, water treatment plants, pumping stations, bore fields and bulk water pipelines.

"Our commitment to developing local content where we operate will be reflected, with a focus on providing employment opportunities across South East Queensland."

The five-year collaborative contract is valued at around $30 million.