JEDDAH, 25 August 2003 — Saudi Arabia has invited national and international companies to participate in water desalination and electricity projects worth more than SR30 billion.
The projects being offered are Shuaiba Phase III, two desalination plants in Jubail, and the Shaqeek plant in the southern region.
“We have received good responses from private investors,” Ahmed Al-Mudaiheem, deputy governor of the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), told Al-Jazirah newspaper.
More than 30 companies, 60 percent of them Saudi, have offered to participate in the new water and electricity projects.
The Ministry of Water and Electricity will begin receiving tenders from the private companies next month and offers will be opened in March next year.
Al-Mudaiheem said the private sector would have a 60 percent stake in the new projects. The other 40 percent will be divided between the Water and Electricity Company (eight percent) and the Public Investment Fund (32 percent).
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer of desalinated water with 27 plants on the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, supplying drinking water to major urban and industrial centers through a network of water pipes more than 3,680 km long.
Desalination meets 70 percent of the Kingdom’s drinking water needs. The Kingdom currently generates 3,600 megawatts of electric power from desalination plants.
The third phase of the Shuaiba plant, located about 100 km south of Jeddah on the Red Sea, aims to produce 176 million gallons of water and 700 megawatts of electricity. The cost of the project is estimated at between SR4.5 billion and SR5.6 billion.
Last March Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, commissioned the plant’s second phase, designed to supply 100 million gallons of water daily to Jeddah, Makkah and Taif.
According to Abdullah Al-Hosain, governor of SWCC, the Kingdom’s desalination output crossed the one billion-cubic-meter mark last year.
“The SWCC set a new record during the last fiscal year as the total output of its 30 plants rose to over one billion cubic meters, which is equal to 150 liters of water daily for each individual in the Kingdom,” he said.
Shuaiba is the second largest desalination plant in the Kingdom, supplying 154 million gallons (582,689 cubic meters) of water and 500 megawatts of electricity. It was built at a cost of SR4.5 billion.
“There are 30 desalination plants in the Kingdom, which supply water to more than 50 cities and distribution centers. They also meet 20 percent of the Kingdom’s electricity needs,” Al-Hosain pointed out.
Al-Mudaiheem said that three more projects would be offered to the private sector for investment. The Ras Al-Zour plant in Jubail, the second project, will produce 800,000 cubic meters of water and 2,500 megawatt of electricity, and serve the Riyadh region.
The third project, which is also in Jubail will supply 340,000 cubic meters of water and 1,100 megawatts of electricity, and serve the Eastern Province.
The fourth project in Shaqeek will supply 113,000 cubic meters of water and 700 megawatts of electricity to the southern province.
Al-Mudaiheem said the Water and Electricity Company (WEC) had already prepared the necessary documents for the Shuaiba III project in cooperation with international consultants.
