JEDDAH, 17 October 2006 -- Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has approved the proposal to establish a giant desalination plant in Yanbu with private sector support, according to Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen.
"The new plant, which will supply 400,000 cubic meters of water daily, will help meet drinking water requirements of people in the Madinah region until 2030," the Saudi Press Agency quoted the minister as saying.
The Yanbu project is significant as there were reports of severe water shortage in many parts of Madinah over the past month. Jeddah, which has a population of over two million, has been facing a major water crisis for more than a month.
Al-Hussayen said his ministry would open a new water distribution center in Buraiman to reduce pressure on the existing center in Aziziya. "There will be 40 filling stations and 250 water trucks," he said, adding that each truck would make four trips daily.
"We hope this arrangement would reduce water shortage in Jeddah to a great extent," the minister said. However, he pointed out that a final solution to the Jeddah water crisis would be found only after the completion of the third desalination plant in Shuaiba.
Al-Hussayen attributed Jeddah's water shortage to the growing population of the city and depletion of the Khalees and Wadi Fatma aquifers from 35,000 to 5,000 cubic meters as a result of a decrease in rainwater.
Efforts are under way to privatize Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), that runs more than 30 desalt plants on the Kingdom's eastern and western coasts. SWCC's board of directors recently decided to convert SWCC into a holding company as part of its privatization. The Kingdom has already started privatization of desalination plants. Last November it awarded an SR9.1 billion ($2.43 billion) contract to a consortium of Saudi and Malaysian companies to set up Shuaiba-3, a dual purpose independent water and power plant (IWPP) designed to supply 194 million gallons of water daily as well as 900 megawatts of electricity.
By P.K. Abdul Ghafour
© Arab News 2006
