Media

His Excellency the Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, & Chairman of the Board Directors of Saudi Water Partnership Company Eng. Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen AlFadley, signed today June 22, 2021 the Project agreements of Jubail 3B Independent Water Plant Project, which will be established in the Eastern Province South of Jubail with a Potable Water production capacity of 570,000 m3/day, with the Preferred bidder through a competitive Bidding process.

Eng. Al-Fadley explained that the signing of these agreements help in implementing the decisions of the Council of Ministers, and achieving the goals and plans of the Ministry to showcase water production and wastewater treatment projects in the various regions of the Kingdom in front of investors. In addition it is an extension of the signing of previous projects and further enhances the active participation of the private sector in developing this vital Water sector and increasing its contribution to the Kingdom development.

Whereas, the allocation of these Projects under the Environment, Water and Agriculture structure accomplish the goals of Kingdom’s 2030 vision, the Privatization programs improves the quality of services and the efficiency of capital spending, by utilizing the experiences of the Private sector participation in this regime.

On his part, the CEO of the Saudi Water Partnership Company, Eng. Khalid Bin Zwaid AlQureshi, stated that the project was presented to the investors in BOO (Build, Own and Operate) approach, in which the winning consortium was chosen after a competition that took place between 4 consortiums, including 6 local companies and 4 international companies. Whereas, the winning consortium for the project comprising Engie, Nesma and Ajlan, stating that the project will be using “Reverse Osmosis” technology and Serving the beneficiaries in Riyadh and Qassim Provinces . This strategic project will also include solar energy units to reduce the electricity consumption from the grid, in addition to water tanks with a storage capacity of one operational day.

Al-Quraishi said that the Project commercial operation date will be in the first quarter of 2024, and that the Project term of concession is 25 years, and it will contribute to achieving high levels of continuous production, lower levels of specific electric energy consumption and operating costs. Moreover, in addition to supporting local content by increasing the percentage of saudization in business and human resources.

The agreements which were signed today at His Excellency the Minister’s office are part of the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) that the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture intends to present to investors, and the supervisory committee to allocate the environment, water, and agriculture sector during the past months has completed developing a strategy to allocate the sector in line with the goals of “Vision 2030”.

In turn, the CEO of the National Center for Privatization, a member of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Company for Water Partnerships, Eng. Rayan bin Mohammed Naqadi, pointed out that it is a great effort to establish a system of partnership between the public and private sectors and the application of international best practices, noting that since the center set the standards, frameworks, and legislation for the partnership between the public and private sectors, Contracts for allocating a number of projects have been signed in several sectors, most of them under the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, and that the Kingdom is steadfastly moving towards implementing the Saudi Vision 2030, and we have confidence in reaching what we aspire by 2030 to diversify the national economy and generate more job opportunities for Saudi nationals and attain the highest level of local content.

Naqadi concluded that the local content of this initiative amounts to 40% in the construction phase and 50% during the first five years of operation and increases to 70% during the remaining years. This initiative is an extension of the allocation and partnership processes between the public and private sectors in the environment, water and agriculture sectors whose agreements are signed, after the successful completion of the signing of several projects for the independent water production and wastewater treatment.

Turki Al Shehri, CEO of ENGIE in Saudi Arabia noted “As a long-term positive energy partner to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ENGIE is proud to play an integral role in the development of large-scale infrastructure projects under the Kingdom’s public-private partnership scheme. We commend SWPC for continuing to encourage private sector involvement in public sector projects, working to transform and grow the Kingdom’s economy. The Jubail 3B project award represents another milestone achievement for ENGIE and a key opportunity for us to provide value-added services and knowledge transfer to the local workforce.”