A SR2.2 billion contract to carry a colossal 550,000 cubic meters of water daily to Madina and its governorates was signed in Riyadh Saturday. The Minister of Water and Electricity and Chairman of the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), Abdullah Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Hussayen, sealed the deal. in which water will be pumped and transported to Madina using 603 kilometers long pipes from the Yanbu desalination plant. Al-Hussayen expressed his gratitude to King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, for approving the vital project. “The capacity of this project is double the current capacity of Yanbu 1 and Yanbu 2 and will meet the future demand for water in Madina and its governorates,” he said. The project costs over SR15 billion and is the second largest project being executed by the corporation. In the two contracts signed, the first was with the Saudi Group 5 Company for the manufacturing and importing of pipes for the project. It is worth over SR688 million and has a duration of 730 days. The second contract was signed with Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corporation and it covers the water transmission system and pumping stations. This contract is worth SR1.6 billion and will be completed in 1,095 days. The SWCC Governor Fehied Bin Fahd Al-Shareef said: “The third stage of this project will help produce 4,000 cubic meters daily to meet the requirements of Madina and its affiliate governorates until 2030 and will produce 2,500 megawatts (of electricity).” “Of them, 650 megawatts are for Marafeq Company and the rest 1,850 megawatts for Saudi Electricity Company to meet the growing demand for power throughout the Kingdom,” he said. Al-Shareef said that Al-Madina Desalination Plant is one of the largest projects to be carried out by the SWCC.
