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Saudi Arabia evaluates Shoaiba 6 bids

24 September 2024

Saudi Water Authority (SWA), the main producer of desalinated water in the kingdom, is undertaking the final bid evaluation for the contract to build the Shoaiba 6 seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant on the western coast of the kingdom.

The plant has a capacity of 545,000 cubic metres a day (m/d).

According to industry sources, the companies that submitted bids for the contract include Spain's Abengoa, India's VA Tech Wabag and the local Civil Works Company.

SWA received bids for the contract on 19 May, several days after it received bids for the Yanbu 5 SWRO plant.

VA Tech Wabag submitted the lower bid for Yanbu 5 and confirmed having won the $317m contract to build the plant earlier this month. The  Yanbu 5 plant will have the capacity to treat 300,000 cm/d of seawater a day.

The 30-year engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contract that Wabag won covers the design, engineering, supply, construction and commissioning of the desalination plant.

Saudi Arabia's main producer of desalinated water, SWA – formerly Saline Water Conversion Company (SWCC) –has tendered two other projects.

The Jubail and Ras Al-Khair SWRO projects will each have the capacity to treat 600,000 cm/d of seawater.

The four contracts are being procured using an EPC model, in contrast to the SWRO facilities being procured on a public-private partnership basis by state offtaker Saudi Water Partnership Company.

SWA is the world's largest producer of desalinated water, with a capacity of at least 6.6 million cm/d. Plants utilising older and more energy-intensive techniques such as multi-stage flash technology account for the majority of the current capacity.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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    In 2030, Riyadh will host the World Expo, and in 2034, Saudi Arabia is set to host both the Fifa World Cup and the Asian Games.

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    Looking ahead, more stadium construction contracts will be tendered, along with other building projects that will provide hotel and commercial space to support the events

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    The most recent example of this shifting focus came in early September, when MEED reported that Qiddiya Investment Company (QIC) had started the procurement process for an estimated SR7bn ($1.8bn) contract to develop the National Athletics Stadium.

    Located within the Qiddiya Sports Park cluster and scheduled for completion by 2030, the project is an ambitious undertaking. It will cover an area of approximately 182,000 square metres and is being benchmarked against the design of the London Olympic Stadium.

    The athletics stadium follows progress on other event-related schemes, including the appointment of contractors for football stadiums in Qiddiya, Riyadh, Al-Khobar and Jeddah, as well as major infrastructure and building contracts for work at Trojena.

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    Saudi Arabia is placing infrastructure at the core of its national development strategy, as the kingdom moves forward with its Vision 2030 plan to diversify the economy. With oil no longer the sole driver of growth, investment is shifting towards sectors that can support long-term sustainability, and infrastructure is top of the list. 

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    Data from MEED Projects shows that from a peak of $34bn-worth of gigaproject contract awards in 2023, spending last year fell to $23bn and was just $6bn year-to-date as of August 2025.

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    Saudi Aramco Total Refining & Petrochemical Company (Satorp), a joint venture of Saudi Aramco and France’s TotalEnergies, has awarded the 30-year concession agreement to the consortium for developing the IWWTP. The planned facility will treat and recycle wastewater from Satorp’s under-construction Amiral chemical derivatives complex, also in Jubail.

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