Friday, June 27, 2025
Saudi Review

New Projects

Riyadh:

Council approves rail link

The Supreme Economic Council has approved a project to build a SR10 billion ($2.67 billion) railway linking several parts of the Kingdom, Saudi officials said.

Businessmen and investors will be invited to a meeting shortly to discuss involvement in the project, which is also open for foreign investors, they said.

"We have received the green light from the Supreme Economic Council to start the project immediately ... the feasibility study was very viable and the project will be funded by the private sector," a senior official said.

A feasibility study prepared by the Saudi chambers of commerce and industry said the 1,061 km east-to-west track would link the ports of Jeddah, Dammam and Jubail, passing through a host of key cities.

Another 1,100 km line would link the kingdom's northern provinces to southern ones.

Three desal plants to be built

Riyadh: The Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) is set to implement three water desalination projects with a total output capacity of 709,891 cu m of water and 551 MW of electricity per day.

These include:

  • Phase III of Al Khobar water desalination and power generating station. It will produce 240,800 cu m of water and 311 MW of electricity per day, the report said.

    The station will provide drinking water and power supply to Al Khobar, Dammam, Dhahran, Qatif, Sehat, Safwa, Ras Tanurah and Al Ahsa.

  • Phase II of Shuaiba station to provide 390,909 cu m of water and 240 MW of electricity per day for Makkah, Jeddah and Taif.

  • The Jubail desalination station to produce 78,182 cu m of water per day for Sidair, Washm and Qasim.

    When these projects are completed, there will be 30 desalination stations in the Kingdom, 24 along the western coast and six along the eastern coast.

    Their total capacity will be 2.9 million cu m of water and 3,400 MW of electricity per day.

    The report said SWCC was also studying plans for the establishment of 20 more water desalination projects in the Kingdom. Fifteen of them will be located along the Red Sea coast and five along the Arabian Gulf coast.

    Deal signed for $3.2m dam

    Riyadh: Agriculture and Water Minister Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Bin Muammar has signed a contract with a national company for the construction of Al Gharabah Dam in the Asir region at a cost of SR12.197 million ($3.25 million), a report said.

    The dam, to be completed in 36 months, would be 95 m long and 26 m high with a total storage capacity of 4 million cu m of water.

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