Spain-based Abengoa SA expects to start up India's largest desalination plant in the quarter starting April 2010. The Rs 563 crore Minjur plant in Chennai will have the capacity to remove salt from 100,000 cubic metres of water per day. 

Befesa Infrastructure India Pvt Ltd., a unit of the Seville-based company, and IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects Ltd won the contract from Chennai's municipal water board in 2005.

The completed plant will be the country's biggest, surpassing a 96,000 cubic metre operation in Jamnagar.