The Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) supplies 1.8 million cubic meters of water to Riyadh daily, Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen said.

“Riyadh has a population of 5.4 million according to the latest census, and every person in the city will get 330 liters of water,” the minister said after chairing a meeting of SWCC’s board of directors.

He said the use of alternative energies like solar and nuclear energies for desalination would be decided by King Abdullah City for Nuclear and Renewable Energy.

Al-Hussayen said the National Water Company would announce its initial public offering at a suitable time.

At present SWCC supplies 840,000 cubic meters of water to NWC.

Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer of desalinated water accounting for 18 percent of total global output.

The Kingdom consumes 7 million cubic meters of water daily, of which 3.3 million comes from desalination plants on the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf.