JEDDAH: A new desalination plant with a daily capacity of 50,000 cubic meters will be established by the private sector south of Jeddah, according to Hattan Hamouda, director of investment planning at Jeddah Municipality.
He said the project would be established on land allocated by the municipality for investment, adding that it would contribute to solving Jeddah’s water shortage. He did not say when work on the new project would begin.
The announcement of the new project comes after Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah approved the executive plan for the privatization of the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) that runs more than 30 desalination plants on the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf coasts.
Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen said the measure was aimed at meeting the growing demand for water in the Kingdom as a result of increasing population and growing industrial and business activities all over the country.
Fehied Al-Shareef, governor of the SWCC, said the corporation would be transformed into a holding company and part of its shares floated for public subscription.
The Yanbu Desalination Plant, which supplies 400,000 cubic meters of water and 1,600 megawatts of electricity, will be first to be privatized at the beginning of next year.
Saudi Arabia launched the privatization of desalination projects in 2005 when it signed an SR9.1-billion contract with a consortium of Saudi and Malaysian companies to set up the Shuaiba-3 desalination plant, the first independent water and power project in the country.
The Shuaiba-3 plant, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, will supply 1.3 million cubic meters of water to Makkah, Jeddah and Taif.
Al-Hussayen, who supervised the signing of agreements with the consortium in Riyadh, then said Shuaiba-3 would supply 194 million gallons of water daily as well as 900 megawatts of electricity.
The government has established the National Water Company with a capital of SR22 billion to provide services related to ground water, drinking water distribution, and collection and treatment of sewage on a commercial basis.
Al-Hussayen said five Saudi cities consume about 60 percent of the country’s water resources and emphasized the need to reduce per capita water consumption, which exceeds 270 liters. He said his ministry had allocated SR800 million to stop leakage of water from the network.
“The Kingdom loses 300,000 cubic meters of water daily as a result of leakage,” he pointed out.
Speaking about investment opportunities in water and electricity, Al-Hussayen said the Kingdom would require more than $200 billion in investment for desalination and power generation projects during the next 15 years in order to meet the needs of its growing population and its developing economy.
