King Abdullah has approved privatization of the National Water Company (NWC) and Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), SPA reported. Making the announcement, Abdullah Al-Hussayen, Minister of Water and Electricity and Chairman of SWCC, called on the private sector to invest in developing groundwater resources, sewage networks and sewage treatment plants in the Kingdom. The projects would begin in Riyadh and Jeddah and then be extended to Dammam, Al-Khobar and Madinah, he added. Fehied Bin Fahd Al-Shariff, Governor of SWCC, said that the SWCC in the privatization program would become a holding company and distribute projects to private companies. The private companies will also be allowed to set up separate plants to replace ageing plants. Saudi Arabia must invest over $60 billion in the next two decades to meet its growing water requirements. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) has projected that water demand in Saudi Arabia will rise to 24,200 million cubic metres (MCM) by 2025, of which 6,450 MCM for household use, 16,300 MCM for agriculture and 1,450 MCM for industrial consumption. ESCWA said the Kingdom leads other Gulf countries in water consumption due to higher requirements of its agricultural and industrial sectors, especially, petrochemicals, cement and food and beverage production. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest producer of desalinated water, actively participates in research programs to improve the desalination technology. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) exists between SWCC and Saudi ARAMCO for research and development of the desalinization technology. Experimental projects in association with Saudi universities are also in progress at SWCC's labs in Jubail. SWCC also has cooperation agreements with many international research agencies especially from Japan and Singapore. __
