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Saudi Arabia awards $2.2bn water transmission contract

5 March 2025

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Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) has signed a contract agreement to develop and operate Saudi Arabia’s second independent water transmission pipeline (IWTP) project.

The project will link Jubail in the kingdom’s Eastern Province and Buraydah in the Qassim region over a 587-kilometre (km) pipeline that can transmit 650,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) of water.

It will have a total cost of SR8.5bn ($2.2bn).

A developer team comprising local companies Aljomaih Energy & Water, Nesma Company and Buhur for Investment Company was named as the preferred bidder for the contract in November.

The governor of Qassim Region, Faisal Bin Mishaal Bin Saud, and Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture and SWPC chairman Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli signed the agreements for the development of the project.

The Aljomaih, Nesma and Buhur team proposed to develop the Jubail-Buraydah IWTP project for SR3.59468 a cubic metre.

The consortium saw off competition from another team comprising the local Vision Invest and UAE-based Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa).

The Vision Invest/Taqa team offered to develop the project for SR5.04214/cm.

The Jubail-Buraydah IWTP project is larger than the kingdom’s first IWTP linking Rayis and Rabigh, which a consortium including the local Alkhorayef Water & Power Technologies Company and Spain’s Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios will develop and operate at a cost of SR7.78bn ($2bn).

SWPC issued the request for proposals for the Jubail-Buraydah IWTP scheme to prequalified bidders in October 2023.

The transaction advisory team for the client comprises the US/India’s Synergy Consulting as financial adviser and the local Amer Al-Amr and Germany’s Fichtner Consulting as legal and technical advisers, respectively.

An advisory team comprising UAE-based financial advisory Cranmore, UK legal advisory services firm Pinsent Masons and Canadian engineering services firm WSP advised the winning developer consortium.

SWPC’s obligations under the water transfer agreement will be guaranteed by a credit support agreement entered into by the Finance Ministry on behalf of the Saudi government.

The project is part of the kingdom’s National Water Strategy 2030, which aims to reduce the water demand-supply gap and ensure desalinated water accounts for 90% of the national urban supply to reduce reliance on non-renewable ground sources.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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