Saudi Miahona consortium seals water maintenance deal

Saudi Miahona Company said its consortium with the French Saur Group and Manila Water has secured a contract worth SR221 million ($59 million) from National Water Company for the operation and maintenance of the water treatment plants in the Eastern Region.

The seven-year-long contract comes as part of the kingdom's strategy to involve the private sector in the water services and environmental sanitation projects.

The National Water Company said it has completed the full restructuring of the kingdom's water services through annexing 13 administrative regions to six sectors under the umbrella of the company.

The latest was merger in November of the Northern Sector that includes the four administrative regions of Al Qassim, Hail, Al Jouf, and the Northern Borders. Following this, now all the regions in Saudi Arabia are under the full administration of the National Water Company.

Early in March this year, the central and eastern sectors were merged under the umbrella of the Saudi company.

National Water Company CEO Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Mowkely said: "One of the most important pillars of the Saudi Vision 2030 is the welfare of citizens and quality of services offered to them, which resulted in preparing the 2030 National Water Strategy, through which the National Water Company Strategy was accredited to prepare detailed plans to develop the level of water services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the participation of the private sector."

Al Mowkely said the contract term was for a total of 7 years. "However, if targets are met after the third year of the contract, and the readiness of the sector increased, then it will enable the National Water Company to move directly to the phase of concession contracts in which the private sector will take full responsibility for water services, and not to wait until the seven years are over," he added.-TradeArabia News Service