Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Eng. Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli signed agreements to build the Jeddah 2 Independent Sewage Treatment Plant.

The project, which has a design capacity of 500,000 cubic meters per day, will serve the Jeddah city to meet its increasing need.

A consortium, consisting of the Power and Water Utility Company for Jubail and Yanbu (Marafiq), Amwal Al Khaleej Co. and Veolia Middle East, has won the project from among a number of bidders to implement the project on build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) basis.

A total of six bids were presented by nine local and seven international companies.

Al-Fadhli, who chairs the Board of Directors of Water and Electricity Company and the Supervisory Committee for the Privatization of the Environment, Water and Agriculture Sector, said that the signing of the agreement comes within the framework of a number of water production and sewage treatment projects being offered to investors in various regions of the Kingdom. This is in accordance with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and the decision of the Council of Ministers to offer such projects to investors to ensure the participation of the private sector in economic development.

Muhammad Al-Tuwaijri, chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Center for Privatization, said the project will be financed 100 percent by local banks.

Khalid Al-Quraishi, CEO of the Water and Electricity Company, said the project is expected to start operation at the end of December 2021.

He said the project uses Nereda technology, which is a sustainable and cost-effective wastewater treatment technology that purifies water using the unique features of aerobic granular biomass.