RIYADH, 8 July — Minister of Agriculture and Water Dr. Abdullah Al-Muammar has signed contracts worth over SR744 million with two Saudi companies for supplying drinking water to Riyadh.
The first contract, valued at SR682.4 million, was signed with Aziz Construction and Medical Services Co. The second contract, worth SR61.7 million, was awarded to Amiantit Saudi Arabia. The project is for a three-year duration.
The measure underlines the government’s efforts to boost water supply to Riyadh, where the average daily consumption has reached 1.16 million cubic meters. The Kingdom has one of the world’s highest rates of water consumption with per capita use standing at 286 liters a day.
Spelling out the details of the contracts, Hamad ibn Abdulaziz Al-Raqban, director of public relations at the ministry, told newsmen that the first contract covered supply and installation of pumps in 65 tube wells and laying pipelines for collecting well water.
Five control wells for observation have already been dug over an area of 3,000 square meters, 225 km north of Riyadh. The production capacity of each well is 2,000 gallons per minute with a potential of 300,000 cubic meters daily.
He said it also includes construction of a water tank with a capacity of 50,000 cubic meters in addition to setting up a main pumping station and three substations along the pipeline. These stations will be set up at Rinah in east Riyadh.
The total length of the water network in the capital reached 9,409 km, according to the annual report released by the Department for Water Supply and Sanitary Drainage in the Riyadh Region for the year 1420H.
Al-Raqban said the contract also included the supply of electricity to all project sites.
The second project, awarded to Amiantit Saudi Arabia, provides for supply of 300,000 cubic meters of water daily.
The pipeline costing SR43 million will have a total length of 88 km. The small diameter pipes will be made of ductile material and the big diameter ones will be of concrete.
Al-Raqban said water would be drawn from the central reservoir after it was chlorinated at a special station set up for the purpose. The pumping station will have eight pumps with a capacity of 2,500 to 3,000 cubic meters per hour. The stations will have three boosters, each equipped with eight pumps of 2,500-3,000 cum/h capacity.
Water supply to Riyadh from the eastern side will stand at 1.3 million cubic meters per day following the completion of the project. This is in addition to other water supply sources like Al-Buwaib, Salbouk and Al-Hair. This will bring the total capacity of water supply to the capital to over 1.6 million cubic meters per day, the official added.
