JEDDAH, 13 November 2005 — The first conference in Saudi Arabia on water issues was highlighted on its first day with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between a British and a Saudi company worth $50 million on its initial stage for a sewage and water treatment project in Jeddah. The “2005 Jeddah Water and Power Forum” opened yesterday under the auspices of Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed and with the presence of the Minister of Water and Electricity Abdullah Al-Hussayen, Fuhaid Al-Sharif, governor of Saline Water Conversion Corporation, Amr Al-Dabbagh, governor of Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority, Dr. Ghassan Al-Sulaiman, chairman of Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a number of dignitaries.
The first day was for The Saudi/British/Japanese seminar covering new developments in water and power technologies. “We are offering new technology and experience specific to Saudi Arabia’s needs. British companies are looking for investment opportunities in joint corporations and with Saudi Arabia entering the World Trade Organization (WTO) it has become a more likely investment environment,” said British Consul General Carma Elliot to Arab News. She announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Chase Environmental Service Ltd. and Haif Company for a number of water treatment projects. “The memorandum is for a range of British technology developed to apply on specific projects here,” said Alexander Melbourne, international director of waste to energy technology at Chase. Provided they get the licenses approved, the initial stage worth $50 million will be operable in 2006. The projects are on BOT basis and will be ongoing for 50 years. “What people call a problem, we identify as an opportunity. We intend to make Jeddah our staring point and the gateway to our strategy for expansion in the Kingdom because it has the largest population and the fastest growth rate therefore it has the biggest demand, the biggest pollution management problem and the biggest waste treatment problem,” said Melbourne to Arab News.
The water crisis in Saudi Arabia is not only in resources but also in investment, according to Dr. Adil Bushnak, chairman of the forum and a member of JCCI board of directors. “Besides the problem in managing and preserving water resources, we have a problem in investing in water projects and technologies. We want to reduce the costs of desalination and power generation and we hope that this forum is the gateway for the Kingdom to the industries and technologies available for the private sector to invest in,” said Bushnak. Around 500 participants from the private and public sector in Saudi Arabia and fourteen other countries are expected to attend the three-day forum, almost 200 of them attended yesterday’s seminar along with 79 companies and international agencies presenting their products and services at the accompanying exhibition, which indicates the importance of the issue and the investment opportunities available.
“We need investments in water projects of over SR350,000 billion over the next few years and that is why the government is joining private companies in building production plants and encouraging local and international businessmen to invest,” said Bushnak. He expects that within the next five years there will be improvement in the water services, usage and conservation. “The incentives for investing in Saudi Arabia include government guarantees of purchasing all production, the high demand, the return of over 15 percent and the facilitation for foreign investment,” he said. Although he admits that Saudi Arabia is behind some countries in terms of water conservation, with the strategy and plan implemented by the government he expects that it will surpass neighboring Arab countries within five years and reduce the water pipes leakage problem from 30 percent to less than 5 percent during the next ten years. Another problem is the agriculture policy, which the government is reviewing, and the high water consumption rate per capita which is also being addressed by raising awareness and installing devices. “The government is also keen on extending the sewage network to every household and stopping water pollution in the network within ten years and the companies participating in this forum are introducing new technologies regarding this,” said Bushnak.
The growing population in Saudi Arabia demands higher services regarding water and power. “There is a need to develop new technologies and techniques in order to produce water and power more efficiently and at a lower cost,” said Saud Ounallah, general director of JCCI.
Saudi Arabia has two extremes. It is the number one in petroleum energy in the world, leading country in gas energy and has 360 days of solar energy available. However, it is one of the poorest countries in the world regarding water availability. The major source of its water is desalination. More than 75 percent of the water consumed in the Kingdom is from desalination. Forty-five percent of desalinated water in the world in done in Saudi Arabia, according to Ounallah.
Dr. Totaro Goto, executive adviser in Water Re-Use Promotion Center, Japan said “We came to display technologies that can help the Kingdom in solving its water problems,” and added “I believe that Saudi Arabia will be able to solve the water problem in the future. Water treatment technologies need to be locally invented in order to accommodate with the local water problems.”
