Kammourie explained that the SOJECO project is a seawater desalination plant which will produce 10,000 cubic meters of water daily. It has been designed to eventually produce 40,000 cubic meters of water a day. This project was carried out by SAWACO with the cooperation of the Municipality of Jeddah. The desalination plant was designed and constructed by Suido Kiko Middle East. “The plant is located in the south Corniche area near the southern industrial area, also known as the second industrial area (JIC2). The plant will supply pure water via tankers and pipeline to end-users, factories, industries, establishments, and residences,” he explained. He added that the plant pumps seawater through beach wells to desalt it and make it suitable for industrial and domestic use. This plant was in the works for the last one-and-a-half years. “This plant is now ready to produce potable water that is compliant with World Health Organization (WHO) standards for unbottled potable water. Start-up and performance tests are under way and in less than two weeks the plant will be ready to deliver water to its valued clientele. The aim of this project is to supply quality water in line with the government strategy to develop this area,” he explained. He noted that the Municipality of Jeddah wants to develop this area and attract a large number of industrial facilities for the development of local communities. “This plant was built keeping in mind the protection of the fragile ecosystem of the Red Sea,” he said. “Water is the main and essential need, so if it is available, this area will witness rapid development.” SOJECO, a subsidiary of SAWACO Water Desalination, is owned by Saudi Brothers Commercial Group, which already has two different water desalination plants, one in north Obhur, which produces almost 14,000 cubic meters of water daily and another in Jeddah which produces 5,000 cubic meters of water on a daily basis. “In this desalination plant we used the much acclaimed Integrated Membrane System (IMS), which provides Ultra Filtration (UF) for pre-treatment and desalination. The use of UF as a pre-treatment tool before Reverse Osmosis is a well-respected treatment solution and will provide higher reliability and sustainability for the whole desalination process,” Kammourie said. The production of water will start gradually with 2,500 cubic meters a day and grow over the next three months to reach 10,000 cubic meters a day. He added that the plant will attract other business and so, create jobs. However, he conceded that it will still take a long time before the area is fully developed. The plant has two-stage desalination capabilities and a flexible mixing system which allows SOJECO to produce several types of water that suit the different requirement of industries. SAWACO started promoting the “Water Designer” concept in 2003. The SOJICO Plant will elevate this concept to a new level. SAWACO went through a similar experience when it started its first plant in North Obhur in 2001. Then there were few residences in North Obhur and most of the area had beach resorts. From 2001 to 2010, the area of North Obhur saw an explosion of residential construction due to the availability of SAWACO water in that area. Thousands of residential villas were built and relied exclusively on the SAWACO North Obhur Plant during that period. Kammourie is banking on SOJECO to do the same for the south of Jeddah.
