oil GDP. "It also employs 15 percent of the total civilian work force," he said quoting RCCI statistics. There are 163,844 institutions under the sector. According to a study, power consumption in Saudi Arabia increases by 5.5 percent annually as a result of the growing number of population and industries. During the last three years, the Saudi Electricity Company has implemented projects at a cost of SR21 billion. Desalination plants are one of the major sources of electricity supply. Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen said his ministry had allocated SR1.5 billion for the maintenance and renovation of desalination plants in the country. Saudi Arabia is now the world's largest producer of desalinated water with desalination meeting 70 percent of the country's present drinking water requirement.
