Saudi Arabia’s National Water Company (NWC) has awarded local contractor Alkhorayef Water & Power Technologies long-term operation and maintenance (LTOM) contracts for three existing sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Manfouha in the capital Riyadh.

It is understood the contracts are valued at SR1.6bn ($426m).

Alkhorayef will undertake the design, rehabilitation, testing and commissioning as well as full operation and maintenance of the Manfouha North STP, Manfouha East STP and Manfouha Phase 4 STP.

The rehabilitation works will take 36 months and the operation and maintenance period is for 15 years.

The three plants have a total combined treatment capacity of 700,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d).

In March, NWC awarded several LTOM contracts for sewage facilities in Dammam and the wider Eastern Region.

The LTOM contracts awarded include the following:

• Construction of the Al-Ahsa sewage treatment plant: SR164.3m ($43m)
• Water improvement programme in the Eastern Region: SR270.6m (Civil Works Company)
• Water improvement programme in Dammam to the southwestern region: SR782m (Al-Yamama Trading & Contracting)
• Eastern Region water distribution network: SR439m (Al-Khorayef Water & Power Technologies Company)
• Pumping station with a capacity of 440,000 cm/d: SR320m (MA Kharafi & Sons)

Most of these contracts were tendered in 2019.

US/India’s Synergy Consulting is the financial adviser to NWC on these projects. Germany’s Fictner and UK-based Clifford Chance are the technical and legal advisers.

Last year, NWC tendered sewage project contracts in several governorates and provinces in line with plans to boost the kingdom’s water infrastructure.

They include contracts to build networks and pumping stations in Aziziyah in Mecca and other areas in Al-Khobar; three lifting stations and ejection lines with diameters of up to 700mm serving different areas in Jubail; and a sewage project in the King Fahd suburb in the Eastern Province, as well as for adjacent schemes west of Abu Hadriya Road in Dammam.

Requests for proposals have also been issued for the following projects:

• Completion of sewage facilities in Al-Khafji Governorate
• Completion of sewage networks in West Safwa and Fayhaa
• Design and implementation of a sewage treatment plant with a capacity of 15,000 cm/d in Al-Khafji

NWC last year unveiled a five-year, SR108bn ($29bn) investment plan for the kingdom’s water infrastructure, as MEED reported.

The projects are distributed across 13 administrative regions in the kingdom. They aim to expand the coverage of water and wastewater networks and increase the capacity of sewage treatment plants across the country.

The latest five-year plan allocates an estimated SR39bn to Mecca, SR16bn to the Eastern Province and SR14.2bn to Riyadh.