Saudi Arabia is eyeing 15 billion Saudi riyals ($4 billion) of investments in water and water in partnership with the private sector, a Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) official said.  

A total of 158 projects divided between 11 desalination and 147 wastewater plants will start operations from the end of 2023 up to the fourth quarter of 2030, SWPC’s VP Capacity Planning & Analysis Amer Al-Rajiba told Zawya Projects during a virtual symposium last week. 

He said SWPC has drawn up an ambitious plan to implement more than 5 million cubic metres per day (m3/day) of desalination capacity and 1.2 million m3/day of wastewater treatment capacity from 2022 to 2030. 

Speaking at the virtual event, SWPC’s Director of Local Content Ammar Al-Khalidi said the project agreements mandate local sourcing for water and wastewater projects. 

He said the percentage of local content encompasses workforce, services, assets and technology with fines imposed for non-compliance based on third-party audits at the rate of 3.7 million riyals for every percentage point below target. 

Al-Khalidi added that local content percentage for water desalination projects is 40 percent and for sewage treatment projects, it is 50 percent. 

(Writing by Marwa Abo Almajd; Editing by Anoop Menon) 

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com) 

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