The National Water Company (NWC), Saudi Arabia's state-run company authorized to administer water affairs, signed the country's first operation and maintenance contract with the private sector which assigned a Saudi, French, Filipino consortium to undertake the operation and treatment of water services in the northwestern sector which includes Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah and Tabuk sectors at a cost of $52.5 million for a period of seven years. Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli, who is also chairman of the board of directors of NWC, was present at the signing ceremony, which took place between NWC's executive president Eng. Mohammed bin Ahmed Al-Mokali and the representatives of Saudi "Our Water company", French "Saur group" and Filipino "Manila Water" company. In remarks following the signing ceremony, Al-Mokali said his company has restructured the water services, merging 13 administrative regions under the umbrella of only six sectors as per the Kingdom's vision 2030. He said as many as 27 multinational water experts will work in the northwestern sector aiming to transfer global experience, nationalize smart technology and expertise and pave the way for the concession contracts, the last leg of the water privatization project. He disclosed that the contract concluded with the winning consortium includes 14 key indexes that should be achieved, and if successfully reached their goals by the third year, the contract will automatically move to the last phase of transferring the whole thing to the private sector.
