Riyadh 13th July 2011 - International Barges Company for Water Desalination ("Bowarege"), the owner of two rapidly deployable, barges-mounted reverse osmosis desalination plants with 50,000 m3/day production capacity, is pleased to announce the successful closing of its 140 Million SAR refinancing of commercial facilities. This followed the partial refinancing of the 370 million SAR construction period facilities with SAR 175.4 million 7 year term loan from Saudi Industrial Development Facility ("SIDF") in 2010.
Saudi Hollandi Bank has structured and arranged the 140 million SAR refinancing under two tranches with loan maturities b/w two and five years to replace the balance amount of construction phase facilities. The initial financing of the project was fully secured and supported by the shareholders of ACWA Power and Rakaa Saudia Power & Water to reflect the project's then construction risk, as well as was based on a short term repayment profile to match the three year offtake agreement, and thereby subjecting the project to otherwise avoidable cash constraints. Therefore the success of this refinancing is accentuated by the fact that these facilities have been secured with relatively longer repayment profiles and with a minimal recourse to Bowarege's shareholders thereby evidencing the banks confidence in the project's current and future operating performance.
Being the world's only full-time, commercially-operational and self-contained desalination plants mounted on transportable barges, the project has proven itself as the only viable solution for addressing temporary and chronic water shortages in the Kingdom. It has to date achieved successful stints at Shuaibah (delivering water to Makkah and Jeddah in 2008 ahead of additional supplies coming on line from Shuaibah IWPP project), then at Shuqaiq (Asir Region) in first quarter of 2009 to mid 2010 ahead of Shuqaiq IWPP coming on line, and now at the Madinah-Yanbu Desalination Plants complex to serve the industrial city and the city of Madinah where the plant availability of 90% is being maintained to dispatch on average 45,000 m3/day. The barges to date have produced over 30million cubic meters (8.1 billion US gallons) of drinking water from surface Red Sea waters.
Mr. Mohammad Abunayyan, Chairman of Bowarege on this noteworthy occasion highlighted that "Bowarege is making an important contribution in addressing water supply-demand gap at coastal cities and specially meeting any temporary shortages such as those witnessed in Jeddah during the summer of 2008. Bowarege and its shareholders are most grateful to H.E the Minister of Water & Electricity, H.E. the Governor of SWCC and other senior managers for firstly their confidence in the concept, and thereafter for their encouragement and support in addition to their acknowledgement of its reliability and performance".
Celebrating the completion of Bowarege refinancing, Eng. Abdullah Bajunaid, Executive Managing Officer of Bowarege commented that "The overall impact of Bowarege refinancing is a substantial extension of the repayment period of its loan facilities and which now more closely matches the project's optimal operating cash flows at a sustainable capacity utilization level. This ensuing relief to Bowarege's cash flows will help the project's internal financing of its ongoing operational improvements as well as any expansion deemed to be viable. On behalf of Bowarege team I am thankful to the Saudi Hollandi Bank and Saudi Industrial Development Fund for their confidence in the project. I am also grateful to the shareholders and specially ACWA Power's finance team for its untiring efforts in executing a highly competitive refinancing in a record timeframe".
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Bowarege IWP is one of the world's most unique, innovative and challenging water desalination projects. Conceived as a response to the chronic drinking water shortage in Saudi Arabia in 2008, it has translated an entrepreneur's dream into a daily and precious reality for the people of the Western Region. The solution was to build a pair of mobile barges, each complete with a 25,000 m3/day fully mounted and operable RO desalination plant. The units meet the exacting needs of membrane technology, compact design for a limited footprint, environmental constraints, international marine certification and industrial safety standards. The barges can be docked at a selected site and can be commissioned in approximately 30 days. This is in sharp contrast to land-based turnkey desalination plants, which typically need 3-5 years from contract signing date to commissioning and actual delivery of product water.
Bowarege is a joint venture between ACWA Power and Rakaa Saudia Power and Water. The off-taker for the 50,000 m3/day capacity is the Saline Water Conversion Corp. (SWCC) of Saudi Arabia. Operation & Maintenance is undertaken by First National Operations &Maintenance Co. ("NOMAC"), which is presently 65% owned by ACWA Power, with a staff compliment of 88.The barges are currently moored in Yanbu on the Red Sea providing desalinated water to Yanbu and Medina after having previously served Asir and Makkah regions in 2009 and 2008 respectively.
The privatized barge-mounted desalination solution proved to be the most practical and feasible, if not the only solution to the acute water shortages experienced in many parts of the country, especially during peak-demand periods. It has successfully contributed to easing the severe water shortage problems in such cities as Makkah, Jeddah and Abha (Asir Region) in 2008 - 2009, as well as the cities of Madinah and Yanbu, where the barges have been stationed since June 2010. Barge-mounted desalination can also be a reliable and a fast-response source of emergency water supply relief in the event of unforeseen disasters afflicting nearby areas. The project utilizes a diesel power supply system, a self-contained intake system, and an integrated membrane process consisting of UF pretreatment for the SWRO/BRO desalination systems.
© Press Release 2011
