There will be proper sanitation in 70 percent of Jeddah's populated areas by 2013. The remaining districts will be covered by 2015, according to Loay Al-Musallam, the CEO of the National Water Company (NWC). He said 22 percent of populated areas are currently covered by the network. By the end of 2012, 46 percent will get the service. “The NWC is working on completing the entire water and sanitation drainage network for Jeddah by expediting the implementation of vital projects and reducing their duration from five to three years at a cost of SR8.676 million.” The sanitation stations will cost SR2.069 billion while the projects being implemented now will cost SR6.354 billion. Other projects will cost SR253 million, Al-Musallam added. The NWC will start implementing 139,000 house sewer connections after completing minor network lines which are 837 km long. A total of 500 km of these lines have been completed so far, according to Al-Musallam. “A total of 330 km of the 350-km-long main networks has been completed. These networks carry sanitation water inside 19.7-km-long tunnels.” The most important NWC projects focus on rehabilitating, operating and increasing the capacity of some sanitation stations. “The operational capacity of Al-Ruwais sanitation drainage station has been raised from 32,000 cubic meters to 64,000 cubic meters per day at a cost of SR60 million. The operational capacity of Al-Balad sanitation drainage station has been increased from 40,000 cubic meters to 80,000 cubic meters per day at a cost of SR70 million. The operational capacity of Al-Matar sanitation drainage station number one was increased to 250,000 cubic meters per day at a cost of SR370 million to serve 13 districts north of Jeddah. The total operational capacity of current stations was increased from 444,000 cubic meters per day to 634,000 cubic meters per day.” The company will complete 20,000 house water connections by the end of this year in Al-Slamah, Al-Bawadi, Al-Safa, Al-Marwah and Al-Rabwah, Al-Musallam said. “By the first quarter of 2012, the districts will begin to benefit from the service. By the beginning of 2012, over 20,000 house sewage connections will be finished; and will be completed by the end of the year in Al-Rawdah, Al-Khalidiyah, Al-Faisaliyah, Al-Nuzla, Al-Worood, Al-Murjan, Mushrefah, Bani Malik and Al-Aziziyah. The service will be operational in the first quarter of the year 2013.” “A sanitation station in South Jeddah (Al-Khumra 4) is being implemented with an operational capacity of 250,000 cubic meters per day. The station will start operating in the last quarter of the current year at a cost of SR247 million. It will treat sewage water carried by current sewage networks and improve the treatment of sewage water coming from Al-Khumra Stations (1, 2 and 3) south Jeddah and use it for agricultural and industrial projects,” the official added. __
