Spanish infrastructure company Acciona has announced that its consortium with fellow-Spanish company Aqualia, and local firms Tawzea and HAACO have formally launched the implementation of the water services management contract for South Cluster in Saudi Arabia.
The Spanish-Saudi consortium led by Aqualia was awarded a $106 million management, operation and maintenance (MOM) contract for the South Cluster, which comprises the provinces of Assir, Jazan, Baha and Najran in the south of Saudi Arabia.
Clusters tendered by National Water Company
The consortium will provide end-to-end water cycle MOM services for seven years in the South Cluster, covering a population of over five million and a surface area equivalent to half of Spain (240,000 square kilometres), according to a press statement issued by Acciona.
The statement said the consortium has chosen a multidisciplinary and multinational team of 39 experts to lead the project.
Antonio Olivas, South Cluster Project Director said: “The profiles that make up the consortium are highly specialized and experienced, which is why their selection has been particularly complex in a global labour market in which companies compete to attract talent.”
The statement noted that the contract, which involves a public-private partnership (PPP) with the state-owned NWC (National Water Company), covers the management of 59 drinking water plants, 380 storage tanks, 330 pumping stations, 127 tanker filling stations, 20,000 kilometres of mains piping, 43 wastewater treatment plants and 7,000 kilometres of collection networks, among other assets.
The South Cluster is one of the six clusters or territories into which the NWC has divided the country to make progress towards better management of water supply and sanitation services and incentivize the participation of the private sector in two phases:
Phase 1: Implementation of Management, Operation and Maintenance contracts in each cluster for seven years.
Phase 2: Implementation of long-term concession contracts in each cluster.
The six administrative/geographical areas that are identified with the clusters are the following: East Cluster (eastern region of the country); West Cluster (Mecca region); Northern Cluster (Qassim, Hail, Al-Jouf and northern border regions); Northwest Cluster (Medina and Tabuk regions); Central Cluster (Central area of the country); and Southern Cluster (Asir, Baha, Najran and Jazan regions).
