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Saudi Arabia has awarded four contracts worth $191.5 million for the construction of four dams in the south and west of the kingdom.
The four dams will have a total capacity of 750 million cu m (26.5 billion cu ft). The largest of the dams is a $60 million structure near Makkah which will have a capacity of 250 million cu m of water. All the contracts were granted to Saudi companies, but Minister of Water Ghazi Al-Qusaibi said the ministry is devising a national water plan to encourage foreign capital to invest in water projects.
Saudi Arabia is the world's largest producer of desalinated water, contributing 30 per cent of global output. It produced more than 857.4 million cu m of desalinated water in 2001, a 60 per cent increase over the previous year.
The kingdom's 30 desalination plants pump almost 600 million gallons (some 2.27 billion litres) of water daily through nearly 3,200 km of pipelines, meeting 70 per cent of Saudi needs for drinking water. The rest comes from underground water.
The state's Saline Water Conversion Corporation plans 20 more such plants through the participation of the private sector.
