Marubeni along with its partners Acciona Agua, Abdul Latif Jameel Commercial Development and Rawafid Alhadarah have signed a long-term water purchase agreement with Saudi Arabian state-owned company, Water and Electricity Company (WEC).
Image: Marubeni and partners sign WPA with Saudi Arabian water utility. Photo: Courtesy of Erda Estremera/Unsplash.
As part of this agreement, Marubeni and its partners will construct, operate and maintain a desalination plant in the town of Shuqaiq along Red Sea Coast, in the country.
Marubeni stated that the plant will produce about 450,000m3/day of water, which will be sufficient for serving a population of about 2 million. The plant will use reverse osmosis (RO) system for desalination.
For the construction of this plant, a special purpose company owned by Marubeni, Acciona, ALJ and Rawafid will be deployed. The new company will take care of procuring financing, constructing the RO desalination plant, and selling the water to WEC.
Water produced from the plant will be sold to WEC over a period of 25 years beginning from 2021.
For the project, ACCIONA Agua will act as an investor, sole EPC (turnkey) contractor, and leading and majority partner in operation and maintenance.
Located in the country’s south west, on the shores of the Red Sea, Shuqaiq 3 project scheduled for completion in 2021.
Marubeni, in a statement, said: “Just as in other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, the demand for water in Saudi Arabia is increasing rapidly in accordance with economic and population growth.
“On the other hand, there is also demand for RO based desalination plants which are independent and do not require a fire-based power plant for operation, reflecting the global trend towards renewable energy. This plant will answer the demand for stable water supply in Saudi Arabia.”
Marubeni stated that the demand for water in Saudi Arabia has been increasing in accordance with economic and population growth.
Supplying 2,000,000m3/day of water, the company owns four independent water and power projects in the UAE.
Besides, the company has constructed and operates waste water plants and related facilities in Qatar, and runs water utility companies in Chile, the Philippines and Portgual.