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Saudi Arabia holds sewerage plant site visits

30 January 2025

 

Representatives from more than 20 firms participated in the site visits conducted by Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) for two upcoming independent sewage treatment plant (ISTP) projects in the kingdom.

SWPC conducted the site visits on 28 January, according to a source familiar with the projects.

Located in Mecca, the first scheme, the Arana ISTP, will have an initial capacity of 250,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d), expandable to 500,000 cm/d.

The second scheme, the Hadda ISTP, will also be located in Mecca and will have an initial capacity of 100,000 cm/d, expandable to 250,000 cm/d.  

SWPC expects to receive bids for the contracts by 5 May. However, the bid deadline is likely to be extended until the early summer, the source said.

Expected to be operational by 2028, both projects will be implemented using a 25-year build, own, operate and transfer model.

They also include treated sewage effluent (TSE) reuse systems consisting of transmission pipelines and TSE tanks.

In March last year, SWPC signed a 25-year water-purchase agreement with a team comprising the local Miahona Company and Belgium’s Besix for the contract to develop and operate the proposed Al-Haer ISTP in Riyadh, as part of the third batch of the kingdom’s ISTP programme.

The Miahona/Besix team offered to develop the project for SR1.9407 ($0.5173) a cubic metre, while the second-lowest bid, from a team comprising Spain’s Acciona and the local Tawzea, was SR2.2041 a cubic metre.

The Al-Haer ISTP project involves the development of a water treatment plant with a capacity of 200,000 cm/d.

It also includes developing a TSE reuse system that covers a 32-kilometre pipeline with a capacity of 400,000 cm/d, a pumping station and TSE reservoir tanks with a capacity of 200,000 cubic metres.

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