SWCC awards $232 mln desalination plant contract to Spanish firm

Saudi Arabia’s Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) has awarded a $232 million design and build contract to Spain’s Acciona Agua for its Al Khobar desalination plant.

The facility, located 400 kilometres east of Riyadh, will have a capacity of 210,000 cubic metres per day and will be completed in two years, Acciona Agua said in a statement.

The plant will also supply water to Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company.

In 2012, Acciona Agua was awarded a contract to design, build and commission the Al Jubail RO4 seawater desalination plant for Marafiq, along with SGB-PCMC, which serves both the city and the industrial complex in the Eastern Province.

In June, Saudi minister of environment, water and agriculture Abdulrahman Al Fadli said the Al Khobar desalination plant is among the 19 new projects to be awarded to improve the quality of drinking water in the Eastern Province at a value of SAR 12.6 billion.