Offiicials laying the foundation stone for the seawater desalination plant

Metito, a leading UAE-based water management solutions provider, is strengthening its project portfolio that includes over 3000 projects most of which are in the most arid regions in the world.

The company which is at the forefront of the water and wastewater industry recently broke ground on the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) seawater desalination plant, which will be partially powered by solar energy.

Ahmed Ibrahim Linjawy, KAEC deputy group chief executive officer, and Mutaz Ghandour, Metito chairman and CEO, took part in the ceremony.

KAEC signed a contract with Metito Saudi for the design and construction of the plant in February. The project is valued at SR220 million ($58.66 million).

The seawater treatment and desalination plant will start with the capacity to produce 30,000 cu m of drinking water per day with the possibility to expand to 60,000 cu m per day. The development period of the project is 24 months, with a plan to start production in the first quarter of the year 2020.

Ghandour: developing secure and sustainable water sources is critical

Ghandour: developing secure and sustainable water sources is critical

The new plant will be the second desalination plant in KAEC with an objective to increase the production capacity of drinking water to meet the needs of new projects and the growing population in the city, especially with the pilot operation of Al Haramain Express train.

Metito will soon start work on the solar-powered desalination plant which is due to be completed within two years.

The desalination plant in KAEC is expected to start production in the first quarter of 2020 and will be powered by electricity generated from the solar power plant, in line with the vision of the Kingdom Vision 2030.

KAEC chairman and CEO Fahd Bin Abdul Mohsen Al Rasheed said: “This is vital to our water security and is consistent with the kingdom’s Vision 2030 for sustainable conservation of natural resources, water and clean energy use.”

“The plant will also establish greater confidence between investors and the city, which continues to implement major projects to develop its infrastructure in all its different sectors, and will attract more investors to invest and gain a footing in KAEC knowing their water needs for industrial and commercial use is sustainably secured,” stated Al Rasheed.

Metito chairman and CEO Mutaz Ghandour said: “Developing secure and sustainable water sources is critical to developing successful economic systems and ecosystems and to the establishing a broad range of enterprises such as; hotels, food industries, pharmaceuticals, and construction, which will now have bigger appetite to invest in the city,” stated Ghandour.

“We look forward to working with our partners on this project and future ones and proud to play a role in such landmark projects in the region,” he added.

Metito boasts operations covering three business areas: design and build, specialty chemicals, and utilities.

KAEC is the largest privately-funded new city in the world.