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Algeria allocates $3bn for desalination plants

15 October 2024

The Algerian Energy Company (AEC) said the state plans to invest $3bn in the second phase of its ambitious water desalination capacity expansion, with six new plants planned by 2030.

According to a local media report citing AEC chief executive Lotfi Zennadi, the initiative is part of a $5.4bn project to bolster Algeria's ability to "provide drinking water as it faces increasing climate-related challenges".

The second-phase projects will follow the commissioning of five new desalination plants in 2024 as part of the $2.4bn first phase of the initiative.

MEED reported in March this year that Algeria plans to procure new seawater desalination plants between 2025 and 2030.

The plan covers building two desalination plants in Tizi Ouzou and one each in Tlemcen, Mostaganem, Tizi Ouzou Chlef, Jijel and Skikda, Algeria's Hydraulics Minister Taha Derbal said at the time.

Five seawater desalination stations are under construction in Oran, Tipasa, Boumerdes, Bejaia and El-Tarf. They are expected to be completed this year.

The new plants will raise the amount of drinking water the country can produce from the Mediterranean from 2.2 million cubic metres a day (cm/d) to 3.7 million cm/d.

Together, the 11 seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plants, each capable of producing up to 300,000 cm/d of drinking water, will increase Algeria's desalination capacity to 5.8 million cm/d, providing 60% of the country's drinking water by the end of the decade.

In February 2023, Riyadh-based water utility developer Wetico won two contracts to develop the El-Tarf and Bejaia seawater desalination plants in Algeria. Each will have a production capacity of 300,000 cm/d.

Societe Algerienne de Realisation de Projects Industriels (Sarpi) awarded the contract for the El-Tarf desalination plant.

Entreprise Nationale de Canalisations (Enac) is the client for the Bejaia facility.

The projects are part of the Algeria Desalination Programme, which is being led by the state-backed Sonatrach Group.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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