JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector offers a lot of opportunities for companies and contractors specializing in desalination and water treatment projects, said Fawaz Al-Malki, chairman of AES Arabia Ltd.
Tourism projects including resorts, hotels, and recreational cities require no less than 50,000 cubic square meters of desalinated water annually, he said. “This represents about 14 percent of private sector desalination projects,” he said. Such projects also demand treatment of some 350,000 cubic meters of sewage water annually, he added.
He said AES Arabia has won contracts to establish a number of desalination and water treatment plants associated with tourism projects inside and outside the Kingdom, with a total capacity of 40,000 cubic meters. These projects include Durrat Al-Arous in Jeddah, Durrat Alkhobar, Durrat Arriyadh, Durrat Bahrain and a number of hotels in different regions.
Al-Malki downplayed the effect of the global financial crisis on Saudi development projects and support services. “The private sector had some kind of a psychological impact,” he said, adding that it could disappear as a result of the Kingdom’s economic policies. The Kingdom’s banking sector withstood the global financial crisis that hit almost all countries in the world, Al-Malki said, attributing this success to the Kingdom’s conservative monetary and financial policies.
He said the Kingdom’s tourism sector, which is in a developing stage, would provide a lot of opportunities to contractors.
“The new development projects announced by the Saudi government in the higher education sector including the opening of new universities as well as the mega economic cities offer a lot of opportunities for desalination and water treatment projects,” Al-Malki said.
AES Arabia has completed the work on a desal plant to supply 6,000 cubic meters of water daily for Durrat Al-Arous in Jeddah. “We are now working on another desal project for Durrat Bahrain to supply 13,000 cubic meters of water,” the chairman said.
The company has also won a desal-cum-water treatment project for Durrat Alkhobar and a similar contract for Durrat Arriyadh.
It was involved in constructing desal and water treatment projects for Holiday Inn in Alkhobar, Holiday Inn Al-Olaya, Tulip Inn in Alkhobar, Holiday Inn Corniche, Holiday Inn Azizia, Novotel and Andalusia in Dammam.