The head of Jeddah's Municipal Council has asked the National Water Company (NWC) for a “definitive solution” to home water supply by the end of 2013. Hussein Bauqail requested in a recent council meeting with the head of the NWC's Works Unit Abdullah Al-Assaf an increase in the potable water supply to homes and said afterwards that reassurances were received that supply would be increased by 100 percent by the end of the current year. “Districts to the east of the highway in Jeddah will see their supply increased by 75 percent with the next few days,” Bauqail added. Council Vice Chairman Hassan Al-Zahrani said that the meeting also heard pledges from the NWC that projects currently under construction would be completed by the end of 2010, projects that he said included the sewage treatment plant in north Jeddah, the tanker outlet at the treatment plant at the airport, the line from the sewage reservoir in Bariman to the airport, and the temporary by-pass sea discharge point. “The Council understands the problems the NWC has in terms of the coastal nature of Jeddah and the rise in the water table in most areas where work is being conducted,” Al-Zahrani said. “The company also faces increasing costs in raw materials as well as heavy traffic which prevents contractors conducting open excavations.” Meanwhile, Abdullah Bin Abdulrahman Al-Hussayyen, Minister of Water and Electricity, inaugurated the headquarters of the company's Riyadh Water Works unit. The NWC has executed 70 water and drainage projects in Riyadh at a cost of SR1.44 billion and currently starting execution of 82 projects at a cost of SR4.73 billion.
