Saudi Arabia’s National Water Co. (NWC) has signed two deals worth SR714 million ($190 million) with firms in the private sector to operate water and environmental treatment services in the western and northern regions.
This move means that the Kingdom has completed the first phase of privatizing water distribution in accordance with the ninth program of its national water strategy.
Moreover, NWC announced on Wednesday that it has signed two contracts worth more than SR 1.59 billion ($423 million) with private-sector consortiums under its Long-Term Operation and Maintenance Contracts (LTOM) program to rehabilitate, operate and maintain six wastewater treatment plants in Makkah and Jeddah.
The company announced via its Twitter account that it awarded an LTOM contract worth 392 million riyals to the Saudi consortium of Thabat and Miahona to rehabilitate, operate and maintain two sewage treatment plants in Makkah Al Mukarramah for a period of 10 years.
The second 10-year LTOM contract, worth more than 1.2 billion riyals, was awarded to consortium of France’s Veolia and Saudi companies Awael and Civil Works Company (CWC) for four wastewater treatment plants in Jeddah.
Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli sponsored the signing ceremony of the contracts between NWC interim CEO Nemer bin Mohammed Al-Shebel and representatives of the Saudi-French consortium of Al Awael Modern Contracting Co., Suez, the Saudi-Spanish consortium of International Water Distribution Company (Tawzea), Alhaj Abdullah Ali Reza Company (HACO), and Spain’s Aqualia.
The Saudi-French consortium of Al Awael Modern Contracting Co. and Suez was awarded the SR 365 million ($97 million) management, operation, and maintenance (MOM) contract for the western cluster while second contract worth SR 349 million ($93 million) for the northern cluster was awarded to the Saudi-Spanish consortium of International Water Distribution Company (Tawzea), Alhaj Abdullah Ali Reza Company (HACO), and Spain’s Aqualia for the northern cluster, NWC announced on its twitter account.
The privatization contracts will contribute to boosting project implementation and help attract investments, said Al-Shebel.
