RIYADH, 24 July 2007 — Minister of Water & Electricity Abdullah Al-Hussayen received the best privatization program award in water and wastewater at a ceremony held at the Four Seasons Hotel on June 11 under the patronage of Riyadh region’s Vice Ruler Prince Sattam ibn Abdulaziz Al-Saud and organized by Arabian Business magazine.
The magazine covers all business fields such as, banking, telecommunication, IT and power in the Middle East as well as encourages the private sector to participate with the public sector in the development of local economy.
The ministry has acquired the award as a result of launching several privatization initiatives during the last two years.
These initiatives were part of the ministry’s efforts to restructure its sectors, where it executed several development projects aimed at preparing water and wastewater sectors for privatization with the assistance of specialized international firms in this field.
The ministry has initiated the procedure for establishing the National Water Company, which will supervise water and wastewater sectors’ privatization contracts in the targeted cities, which are Madinah, Riyadh, Jeddah, Alkhobar and Dammam.
The award comes as an extension of the ministry’s achievements of previous several awards and letters of appreciation such as, GWA’s Award for best government establishment, the letters of appreciation from UNDP and UNU for the water conservation efforts, as well as the EDA Award for water conservation campaign.