• Home
• /
• Business

Kingdom Mulls Modernisation of Desalination Plants

JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia plans to modernise the kingdom’s desalination plants, according to Abdullah Al Hussayen, minister of water 
and electricity.

He said that Saudi Arabia is the largest producer of desalinated water in the world producing three million cubic metres daily. “Desalinated water accounts for 55 to 60 per cent of water supplied for public consumption,” he said at a graduation ceremony held at the training center for the Saline Water Conversion Corporation, or SWCC, in Jubail.

Referring to the ministry’s efforts to reduce consumption of water and prevent leakages, he said that these efforts would help save about 600,000 cubic metres of water daily. “Our campaigns to reduce water consumption and prevent leakages were successful,” he said.

Al Hussayen said that the corporation had stopped importing many spare parts for desalination plants after Saudi companies began producing them with high quality.

Fehaid Al -Sharief, governor of the SWCC, said that a team of experts was working on privatising 
the organisation.

“The privatisation plan will be ready within four months and will be presented to the Supreme Economic Council for its endorsement,” he said.

During the ceremony, Al Hussayen congratulated 19 engineers and 38 operators and technicians who have completed specialised courses at the training centre. He also commissioned three experimental desalination plants at SWCC’s Research Institute in Jubail.

habib@khaleejtimes.com