RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) has signed a contract with Metito Saudi to design and construct a seawater desalination plant powered by solar energy.
Valued at SAR220,404,144 (US$58.7 million), the desalination plant will start with a capacity to produce 30,000 m3/day of drinking water, expandable to 60,000 m3/day.
The project is expected to be in development for 24 months, with production slated to start in the first quarter of 2020.
In a statement, KAEC said the project “will be powered by electricity generated from the solar power plant, in line with the vision of the Kingdom Vision 2030”.
The new plant will be the second desalination plant in KAEC with an objective to increase the production capacity of drinking water to meet the needs of new projects and the growing population in the city.
Metito was awarded the project after competing with 10 international and regional companies for the tender.
Ahmed bin Ibrahim Linjawy, KAEC deputy chief executive officer, said: “This is a vital to KAEC’s water security and is consistent with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 for sustainable conservation of natural resources, water and clean energy use."
Mutaz Ghandour, Metito chairman and CEO, said: “Developing secure and sustainable water sources is critical to developing successful economic systems and ecosystems and to the establishing a broad range of enterprises such as; hotels, food industries, pharmaceuticals, and construction, which will now have bigger appetite to invest in the city.”
King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) is the largest privately-funded new city in the world. Situated on the west coast of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KAEC covers an area of 181 square kilometers of land, approximately the size of Washington DC.
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