DAMMAM: The head of the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) in the Eastern Province has said that no tariff increase has been approved to accompany the upcoming injection of 930,000 cubic meters of water into the region's networks. “The water tariff remains what it was, and no change has been introduced,” said regional director general Saleh Al-Zahrani. “Official decisions made previously govern Ministry of Water purchases of desalinated water from the company.” Al-Zahrani, who said the new injection of water had already begun in Dammam and would extend “soon” to Qatif, Safwa and Ras Tanoura, added that the next few weeks would also see gradual but large reductions in supplementary well water that has been diluted into desalinated water to meet demand. The desalinated water supply network from Jubail to the rest of the region has a project cost of SR1.6 billion and 132km of pipeline, and will supply 500,000 cubic meters of desalinated water per day to add to the 430,000 produced by Al-Khobar Plants 2 and 3. Earlier this month SWCC signed contracts worth over SR15.6 billion for a new power plant at Ras Al-Zour capable of producing 2,400 megawatts of electricity and more than 1 million cubic meters of desalinated water a day. The contract to build the desalination plant was won by a consortium led by South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Co Ltd, and works are expected to be complete in around 42 months.
