RIYADH, 11 March 2004 — Deputy Minister of Water and Electricity, Abdullah Al-Husaein, confirmed the Public Water Desalination Organization’s plan to establish desalination plants and distribution systems worth SR14 billion in several cities to handle nearly 2.7 million square meters of water.
The Saudi Electricity Company in collaboration with the private sector will carry out the project to establish 4 new desalination plants. Two are planned for Jubail and Ras Al-Zur on the east coast while the other two will be sited in Shuaiba and Al-Shaqeeq on the west coast.
Water production is expected to be around 2.1 million square meters per day and the plants will generate nearly 4500 megawatts of electricity.
Al-Husaein stated that the current desalination plants on the east coast have the capacity to produce nearly 1.7 million square meters.
Whereas the west coast has 24 desalination plants with a capacity of 1.65 million square meters, pumping out more than 5000 megawatts. The bulk of the electricity is used in the SEC grid.
The general water consumption is estimated at 22 billion square meters of water with the agricultural sector consuming around 20 billion square meters with the remaining for human consumption.
The ministry is also planning to provide all cities with a functional sewerage system by 2015, he added. The current water sewer network and water-treatment plants only serve between 35 and 80 percent of residents in cities. The plan is to quadruple the present system.