Qa'dah 29, 1431, Nov 06, 2010, SPA -- The Government of Saudi Arabia has spent more than SR 65 billion on the projects of Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) until the end of fiscal year 1428 / 1429H and about SR 29.463 billion on operation and maintenance of desalination plants. The Kingdom has produced more than 1,103 million cubic meters of desalinated water and more than 20 million megawatts / hour of electricity. The Kingdom has known water desalination for more than 80 years when the Founder of the Kingdom late King Abdulaziz Ibn Abdulrahman Al Saud ordered to establish two condensing units for distillation of sea water called Kindasah to supply Jeddah with more drinking water. The Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdulaziz has focused on the desalination of sea water and has spent billions of riyals for the establishment of 30 desalination plants on the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf including Jubail plant which is considered the largest water desalination plant in the world. According to a report issued by Saline Water Conversion Corporation in 2008, the Corporation has implemented 14 systems for the transfer of desalinated water through a large network of pipelines with a total length of about 4,157 kilometers and established 29 stations to pump water to 168 reservoirs with a capacity of up to about 9.5 million cubic meters. In the month of Rajab 1430H, The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdulaziz Al Saud approved the establishment of a unified project for water desalination and electricity production with a capacity of 550,000 cubic meters of water and 1700 MW of electricity to meet the future needs of the city of Madinah, some cities and centers of the region at a cost of SR 14 billion. The State's budget allocated to the Corporation more than SR 13.4 billion for fiscal year 1431 / 1432H, an increase of 44% in comparison with the last year.
