The Minister of Water and Electricity, Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, will tomorrow inaugurate a two-day forum on the water-treatment industry and opportunities for the private sector in the manufacture of spare parts required by the industry.
The forum, organized by the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), will be held at the Riyadh Intercontinental Hotel, with an exhibition by water treatment companies.
A spokesman for the organizing committee said that the forum would stress the need for the water-treatment industry to consider mergers in order to remain competitive and to meet future challenges and would encourage deployment of locally manufactured spare parts for use by the industry.
Fawaz Malki, General Manager of A.E.S. Arabia Ltd., a U.S.-based specialized water-treatment company, told Arab News that the forum would enable local industry to improve its interaction with SWCC and provide an opportunity for cooperation deploying state-of-the-art technology.
Industry sources said that several foreign companies are planning to enter the Kingdom’s water desalination industry, which requires a capital investment of $40 billion over the forthcoming 20 years. Companies from Japan, South Korea and the United States are seeking to enter the industry in Saudi Arabia.
Since water treatment and desalination are capital-intensive, one of the options for consideration is the rehabilitation of waste water treatment plants to extend the life of plants. “Due to our advanced technological solutions, we enhanced the waste water treatment capacity of a plant in Jeddah from 10,000 to 40,000 cubic-metres, whilst simultaneously reducing the discharge quality of the plant to internationally accepted standards. There is tremendous potential in this area,” Malki said, adding that a large number of the Kingdom’s water and waste-water treatment projects require renovation and rebuilding. He said there is immense scope for the industry due to the because of the opening of water desalination and power generation sectors to private enterprises.
Source: SPA
