The amount of desalinated water produced in Saudi Arabia during the fiscal year 2007 surged to 1.066 million cubic meters, recording an increase of 3.3 percent over the previous year's volume. The annual report of the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) for the fiscal year said as many as 30 plants are providing the desalinated water for use around the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Six of these plants are built along the east coast (Arabian Gulf) of the Kingdom and the rest of the 24 water desalination stations are located on the west coast (Red Sea). These plants provide the largest industrial base for water desalination in the world. SWCC attributed the increase to the completion of the reconstruction program for the desalination units at the fourth desalination plant in Jeddah Governorate and the second plant in Al-Khobar Governorate within the overall coverage of the program, implemented by SWCC for the reconstruction of a number of projects. During the fiscal year under review, the annual report said the quantity of the desalinated water from the six east coast plants increased by 3.2 percent compared to the previous year in 2006 while the quantity of the desalinated water from west coast plants increased by 3.4 percent. In addition to SWCC's efforts in the sphere of the production of desalinated water, it continues to make strides in the electric power generation field from the plant in Al-Ardh where the amount of electrical energy produced during 2007 increased to 21 million megawatts. With regard to the private sector's participation in desalination projects, the report pointed out that work is underway to implement a number of cogeneration projects that were approved by the Supreme Economic Council, which provided an opportunity for the private sector's participation and investment on the basis of specific criteria, providing for 66 percent to investor, 32 percent to the Public Investment Fund and 8 percent to Saudi Electricity Company. The report stated the number of projects which received the private sector's investment include: the third phase of Shuaiba plant with a daily production capacity of 1.30 million cubic meters of desalinated water and 900 megawatts of electricity; the second phase of Al-Shuqaiq plant with a daily production capacity of 212,000 cubic meters of the desalinated water and 850 megawatts of electricity, and the third phase of Jubail plant which was merged with Marafiq Company's project in Jubail to reach a total daily production capacity of 800,000 cubic meters of the desalinated water and 2, 500 megawatts of electricity. The report drew attention to the Royal approval to include Yanbu city project in its third phase within the plants that will be implemented with the private sector participation and a daily production capacity of 400,000 cubic meters of the desalinated water. The work is under way for the implementation of desalination plants in six Governorates including Al-Wajh; Rabeigh; Leith; Qunfudah; Farasan and Omluj. These will have a total daily production capacity of 63,000 cubic meters of the desalinated water, involving a capital expenditure of SR801 million. The annual report pointed out that Jeddah Project (Phase III) has been using reverse osmosis process with a daily production capacity of 40,000 cubic meters of the desalinated water daily and Haql project (phase III) and Dheba Project (Phase IV) with a joint daily production capacity of 9,000 cubic meters of the desalinated water, and finally Al-Wajh Project (phase IV) with a daily production capacity of 13,500 cubic meters per day of the desalinated water. Eng. Abdullah Bin Abdulrahman Al-Husayen, the Minister of Water and Electricity and SWCC Chairman, reiterated the keenness of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, to develop the SWCC and improve its operational efficiency. “From this standpoint, Royal directives have been issued to privatize and restructure the corporation within the framework of the State's policy towards the privatization of all water utilities, “ he added. He said the privatization of the corporation is moving ahead in the right direction. “ Five of the seven stages set for the completion of phases of the privatization program have been completed so far, leaving only two stages of restructuring and special regulations as well as determining tariffs, issuance of the necessary decisions, identifying buyers and preparing the bidding documents for investors.” In a foreword of the annual report for the fiscal year, he stressed the importance of water conservation as a precious national resource for which the government has been exerting great efforts for the development of water sources and has spent billions of riyals to construct 30 desalination plants on the Arab Gulf and the Red Sea coasts.
