JEDDAH: Minister of Water and Electricity Abdullah Al-Husayen launched the National Water Company’s (NWC) first regional laboratory in Jeddah on Wednesday.

Al-Husayen, who is also the chairman of the board of NWC, was briefed on the lab’s main sections and heard a short presentation explaining each section’s tasks in terms of water analysis and the procedures.

The minister said the new western region laboratory is provided with advanced equipment and will be committed to quality through professional performance. The lab is the first of several the company will set up around the country.

He said the lab’s strategic plan entails achieving strict control and periodic chemical and bacterial testing of water samples to ensure the water is safe as per required global standards.

Executive Director of NWC Luwai said the lab is founded on a space of 3,600 square meters and costs SR 25 million. It consists of three main departments of drinking water, environmental service and administration.

The drinking water department contains three divisions for inorganic analysis, organic analysis and bacterial analysis.

He said the lab is managed by Saudi employees in cooperation with the world’s best specialist companies. Water samples will be collected daily at every production stage. The lab covers Jeddah, Makkah and Taif.

On Tuesday, Al-Husayen told a newspaper his ministry spends more than SR 65 billion on water and electricity projects to provide services to all populated areas in the Kingdom. “Three contracts for new projects are signed every working day,” he said while inspecting Zubaida Spring endowments in Makkah and Taif. Only 2 percent of the projects are delayed. The ministry deals with delayed projects by imposing fines stipulated by regulations, and if that does not work the project is withdrawn from the contractor and awarded to another, which had happened several times, he said.

Al-Husayen said that dam projects had contributed to protecting villages from floods and saving 2 billion cubic meters of water, adding that SR 25 billion are allocated annually to implement projects including water and sewage networks, water processing plants, desalination plants and dams.

The minister attributed the large number of dam projects to the need for new water sources. Beesh Dam currently stores 180 million cubic meters and feeds Jazan region and in the future it will also cover part of Asir’s water requirements.

“The storage capacity of all dam projects in the country will reach in total 2.5 billion cubic meters,” he said.