Saudi unveils water, power plans

The Jubail desalination plant in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom plans to spend over $40 billion on water projects over next two decades.

Saudi Arabia is planning major investments in power and water over the next two decades, according to the country’s minister of water and electricity.

Abdullah Al Hussayen unveiled plans for the water sector at the Saudi Water and Power Forum 2007 in Jeddah on Saturday.

The minister was prevented by ill health from revealing power plans, however Arabian Business obtained a copy of his speech.

According to Al Hussayen, the ministry is working closely with the World Bank to develop a national strategy for managing water resources.

The new strategy will focus on managing supply by providing more water sources in the Kingdom in addition to underground and desalinated water.

Recycled waste water is considered a major future water source as the minister plans to provide the country with five million cubic meters of processed waste water in the coming seven years.

The ministry is constructing 115 new dams able to hold 1.3 billion cubic meters of rain water, equal to total water reserved in the past 50 years. A further 360 dams are to come with investments of three billion Saudi Riyals ($800 million).

The low cost of producing drinkable water from the dams compared to desalination plants will make dams a sustainable source for potable water.

The government is putting aside over SR150 billion ($40 billion) for developing the water sector and the sewage system in the coming two decades. According to Al Hussayen the ministry is currently spending more than SR62 billion ($16.5 billion) on potable water and sewage projects.

Al-Hussayen said the government is forming a new national water company with a start-up capital of SR22 billion ($5.9 billion) to be responsible for the privatization of the water and sewage sector.

Contracts are expected to be signed for the privatization of water and sewage services in Jeddah in the first quarter of 2008. The ministry has already issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the project. Riyadh is coming closer than Jeddah as the minister expects to sign its privatization contract at the end of this year.

New thermal power plants are currently under construction to expand existing capacity, the minister said in his speech.

The Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC) is spending over SR20 billion ($5.3 billion) on the expansion of existing power plants in Riyadh, Jeddah, Eastern Province, and Rabigh which will be the home to new power-intensive mega projects.

SEC will add 1,200 megawatt of electricity to Rabigh’s power plant to meet the energy demand for Saudi Arabia’s largest petrochemical complex.

The country is embarking on grid-connectivity projects with Egypt, Yeman and other GCC states.

The first phase of the SR6 billion ($1.6 billion) project to link Saudi Arabia with other GCC countries will be finished by the end of 2008 and the entire project will be completed in 2010.

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM