JEDDAH, 21 May 2006 — The Ministry of Water and Electricity has approved the construction of 90 new dams in different parts of the Kingdom at a total cost of SR1.16 billion, mainly to feed its rapidly diminishing underground aquifers, crucial for the agricultural sector.
According to a senior official, the ministry has made allocations for these dams in the current fiscal budget. The project will increase the total storage capacity of dams in the Kingdom to more than two billion cubic meters of water.
“The ministry is currently preparing studies related to the construction of the new dams,” the official said. He said there are 27 dams under construction with a capacity of over one trillion cubic meters of water. Among them nine have high storage capacities.
Official statistics show Saudi Arabia has 225 dams with a total capacity of 850 million cubic meters.
Addressing a seminar on management and operation of dams in the Kingdom recently, Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen said there are 145 dams under construction.
He estimated the total cost of dams including new ones at more than SR6 billion.
Al-Hussayen yesterday signed a contract worth SR134 million for a dam project in the southern Jizan region. The Dhamad Dam with a capacity of 55.5 million cubic meters is one of the largest in the region. It will be completed within 48 months.
“The main objective of this dam is to protect people of the region from the dangers of floods apart from making use of rainwater for drinking and agricultural purposes,” he said.
Ali Al-Takhees, deputy minister for water affairs, emphasized the Kingdom’s strategy to establish more dams in order to reduce dependence on expensive desalination plants.
Al-Takhees refuted allegations that the Kingdom’s dams were constructed haphazardly without proper planning. “This is not true. We have built each dam after conducting geological, hydrological and engineering studies,” he said.
The two-day seminar on the management of dams ended last Wednesday. Forty-seven experts from 20 countries discussed papers on the role of dams in boosting the economy, agriculture and tourism.
It urged authorities to encourage the private sector to participate in the operation and maintenance of dams.
Saudi Arabia relies heavily on costly seawater desalination plants to supply potable water to households, farms and factories, officials say. The state heavily subsidizes the price of desalinated water selling it almost at giveaway prices.
The ministry has embarked on a major plan to overhaul the state-owned water sector and prepare it within a decade for complete privatization, including that of 30 desalination plants on the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf coasts.
