Plans to privatize several large-scale government water authorities are well on their way to completion. The first of which are the General Directorate of Water for the Makkah region and the Water Administration in Jeddah, which will become the National Water Company, Al-Nadwah Arabic paper reported Tuesday. The Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) is also set to become a private company according to its annual report. Executive President of The National Water Company, Lawai Bin Ahmad Al-Muslam and the current managing director of the General Directorate of Water for the Makkah region said the privitization process will be completed by the beginning of September. During the three month transition period two officials, Muhammed Chaheen Al-Ahwal Director of General Administration of Water Projects and Ihsan Sajeni financial affairs general supervisor have been charged with finalizing any contractor dues. Plans for the privitization of the SWCC are already under way said Abdullah Bin Abdulrahman Al-Husayen, Minister of Water and Electricity and SWCC Chairman. “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,” he said. The SWCC annual report stated that the organization's output increased to 1.066 million cubic meters during 2007 fiscal year, an increase of 3.3 percent from previous year. Addtionally the SWCC's electric power generation plant in Al-Ardh in 2007 produced 21 million megawatts of electricity. The report stated that the SWCC has 30 plants providing desalinated water for use around the Kingdom. Several projects have received private sector investment, according to the report including a production facility in Shuaiba which has a daily output of 1.3 million cubic meters of desalinated water as well as 900 megawatts of electricity. Another project in Al-Shuqaiq with a daily production capacity of 212,000 cubic meters of the desalinated water and 850 megawatts of electricity as well as several others all contributed to increasing the desalinated water and electricity production. Several other facilities are planned in six governorates; Al-Wajh, Rabigh, Leith, Qunfuda, Farasan and Omluj. These facilities will have a daily production capacity of 63,000 cubic meters of desalinated water, and cost a total of SR801 million. The Minister of water stressed, in the report, that water is a precious national resource and the government has spent billions building 30 desalination plants in the Arab Gulf and along the Red Sea coasts. __
