The SR16.5 billion Saudi government budget allocation for the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) would boost water and power supplies to Riyadh, Madinah and Taif, a top official said.

In a statement, SWCC Gov. Abdulrahman Al-Ibrahim said the money would help complete the Ras Al-Khair desalination plant on the Arabian Gulf coast that would produce 1,025 million cubic meters of water a day and 2,400MW of electricity for Riyadh and the Eastern Province towns of Hafr Al-Batin and Nariyah.

The 914-km pipeline from Ras Al-Khair to Riyadh would have a capacity of 2.6 million cubic meters per day. The SWCC would have three pumping stations to keep the water flowing to the capital, he said.

Al-Ibrahim said the budget allocation would also help the SWCC complete phase three of the Yanbu desalination plant on the Red Sea coast, which would produce 550,000 cubic meters of water and 2,500MW of electricity a day. He said 1,850MW of this electricity would be sold to the Saudi Electricity Company and the remaining 650MW used to power the plant.

Al-Ibrahim said a 354-km pipeline between Ras Al-Khair and Hafr Al-Batin would carry 29,900 cubic meters of water a day with the help of one pumping station between the two cities. A 604-km pipeline from Yanbu to Madinah would carry 1.65 million cubic meters of water a day from the Yanbu Phase III plant. A 227-km pipeline from Baha to Taif would carry 80,000 cubic meters of water a day, and a 97-km pipeline would carry 6,120 cubic meters of water from the Al-Leeth plant to nearby villages, he said.

He said the budget would allow the SWCC to supply natural gas to the Alkhobar desalination plant. The 43-km pipeline would carry 16,125 million cubic feet of gas an hour.

“As per the directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, the SWCC is building the world’s largest solar powered water desalination plant in Khafji with an initial production capacity of 30,000 cubic meters of water a day that will later be expanded to 300,000 cubic meters. We are working with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology to use solar energy to power desalination plants,” he said.