JEDDAH: The board of directors of Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) Wednesday approved four projects worth SR40 billion, including Ras Azzour Independent Water and Power Production (IWPP) project.
The $9 billion Ras Azzour project is designed to supply power and water required by Maaden’s (Saudi Arabian Mining Co.’s) aluminum smelter and phosphate-processing facilities in the area. It is likely to use natural gas instead of oil for its energy requirements.
The board meeting in Riyadh, which was chaired by Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen, also heard a report from Abdul Razak Al-Haijan on the corporation’s privatization and restructuring plan.
According to an official statement issued by SWCC, the board approved the implementation of the third phase of the Yanbu desal plant (Yanbu-III) and three pipelines; one linking Ras Azzour with Riyadh, another with Hafr Al-Baten and Naeeriya and the third for Yanbu-III.
The board meeting thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for allocating SR13.4 billion for SWCC in the national budget for 2010, adding that it is the corporation’s highest budget in history.
The meeting approved the corporation’s financial statement for 2008 and its commercial report for 2007. SWCC’s budget for 2010 showed a 44 percent increase in spending.
Saudi Arabia is the largest producer of desalinated water in the world and supplies three million cubic meters daily.
Desalinated water accounts for 55 to 60 percent of water supplied for public consumption in the country.
Saudi Arabia requires new investments worth more than $50 billion for desalination projects during the next 10 years.
Tarik Al-Tamimi, chairman of Tamimi Group, described investments in the Kingdom’s water sector as the most feasible as the Kingdom depends mainly on desalinated water for the consumption of its growing population and meet industrial requirements.
He said Saudi Arabia consumes nearly 2.5 billion cubic meters of water annually and about half of which (1.1 billion cubic meters) comes from its desalination plants on the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf.
The scale of the Kingdom’s IWPP projects has drawn massive financial and investor interest from around the globe. Shuaiba III, the biggest IWPP in the world, for example, has involved some 37 banks in project finance.