On 11 March Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, commissioned a major desalination project in Shuaiba, designed to supply 100 million gallons of water daily to Jeddah, Makkah and Taif.
The Shuaiba phase two project, which will increase the plant's total capacity to 582,689 m3 and 500 megawatts of electricity, cost US$ 1.2 billion. It will double the quantity of water supplied to Makkah and Taif and raise the supply to Jeddah by 60%. It is part of the Kingdom's efforts to make its water supply match its rapidly growing water consumption. The state-run Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) owns the plant.
Water Minister Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi has called for stringent measures to save the Kingdom from water shortage. He said a new water tariff will be introduced within two years to ensure prudent use of water for household, agricultural and industrial purposes.
The two phases of the Shuaiba plant involved the construction of water storage tanks, a pumping station, water transport pipelines, plant flash chambers and other processing facilities. Shuaiba is on the Red Sea, about 90 km southeast of Jeddah.
