Building consultancy Atkins has won an advisory services contract from Saudi Arabia's state-owned National Water Company (NWC) as part of a consortium that will develop three wastewater treatment privatisation projects.

The company will work with Japan's Mizuho Bank and law firm White and Case to develop three privatisation projects to upgrade the wastewater systems in Jeddah, Dammam and the kingdom's northern border region.

In a statement on Monday, Atkins said that a low percentage of wastewater produced in Saudi Arabia is collected by the existing network and treated. The projects being developed will use a build-operate-transfer or build-operate-own scheme to finance construction and operation of wastewater facilities. It added that this is the first privatisation project that NWC has undertaken.

Atkins, which was recently acquired by Canada's SNC Lavalin in a $3.6 billion Canadian dollar ($2.9 billion) deal, will advise on public-private collaboration and provide technical advice as well as guiding on procurement and bid evaluation.

Francois-Xavier Basselot, Atkins’ market director for water in the Middle East, said: “With strong economic development and a rising population, the current sanitation infrastructure across the kingdom is not adequate and needs to be expanded. Through these flagship projects, the NWC, with support from the consortium, will bring much-needed improvements to the environment, ecology and public health for the citizens of Saudi Arabia.”

© Zawya 2017