Acciona has handed over the Shuqaiq 3 Independent Water Project (IWP) to Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC). The firm was the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the IWP desalination plant, which can produce 450,000cu/m of potable water per day.

The project also includes the EPC of a large electrical special facility to feed the plant with power and some other additional installations from the existing power plants in the vicinity, said a statement from the firm.

The seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant is said to be working at full capacity and will provide water to the areas of Asir and Jizan, covering a potential population of two million inhabitants.

“This milestone is the result of exceptional collaborative teamwork between the owner, the client, the owner’s engineer and the project team,” said Acciona’s Middle East EPC Director (Water Division) Mazen Bachir.

The plant, of high-energy efficiency, is said to be a key project in the modernisation of the water sector that is currently being carried out by SWPC.

Javier Nieto, PPP director, Acciona Water Business added, “We have completed this project to schedule, in challenging circumstances, and to contribute to supplying drinking water in the country in a sustainable and innovative way.”

Julio de la Rosa, Acciona Middle East director (Water Business) remarked, “We are very proud to contribute with the measures implemented by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to rationalise water consumption as part of its Vision 2030 program, with the aim of reducing consumption up to 43% by the end of the decade. Thanks to the reverse osmosis technology, this project will help also to reduce the CO2 footprint.”

Saudi Arabia, a country with a population of around 33.4m, is the third biggest consumer of water per capita in the world, after the US and Canada.