Projects to keep up with water needs of Madinah

PRESENT: Madinah Gov. Prince Faisal bin Salman receives a memento from Minister of Water and Electricity Abdullah Al-Hussayen during his visit to the headquarters of the ministry in Riyadh on Thursday.

Madinah Gov. Prince Faisal bin Salman held talks Thursday with Abdullah Al-Hussayen, water and electricity minister, to acclimatize with the present and future projects undertaken by the ministry in his region.
The meeting, held at the Ministry of Water and Electricity headquarters, reviewed Madinah Region projects in general and mega projects in the city, in particular, including the expansion projects of the Prophet’s mosque, airport, and railways.
Prince Faisal was briefed on the Ministry’s plans for water up to the year 2050, as well as desalination, groundwater, sanitation and strategic water storage projects in the city.
The briefing also covered the ministry’s upcoming projects or those under implementation or in awarding stages, together with water and sewage works in Madinah and Yanbu to be undertaken by water directorates or the National Water Company (NWC).
The minister said Riyadh city alone consumes more than 2.2 million cubic meters of water per day, up 500,000 cubic meters compared with last year’s figures, as a result of new projects in the city and arrival of water supplies from the first phase of Ras Al-Khair (water) plant.
Per capita consumption of water in Riyadh nears 370 liters per day, which, he said is extremely high compared with the European Union (EU) rate of 150 liters.
Al-Hussayen said that the Shaqaiq 3 project was not canceled, but delayed at the beginning of the initial stages of its implementation.
The fund approved for the Shaqaiq 3 project was not returned, but rather, spent on projects that are more important, such as strategic storage projects in Abha and Khamis Mushayt.
“We have three water sources whose production is equivalent to that of the Shaqaiq plant,” he said.
“These include the Bisha Dam, with a storage capacity of 180 million cubic meters, and the Mirba and Outod Dams, with a production capacity of more than 200,000 cubic meters.”
“We therefore do not need Shaqaiq 3 for now, but the time will come for its implementation, which could be in the next six years,” he said. He said delayed water projects would be withdrawn from the contractor and given to others.
The minister said future projects worth more than SR12 billion have been approved.
They include Yanbu 3, with a production capacity of 550,000 cubic meters, and the Yanbu 4, Ras Al-Khair Project, which is pumping some 300,000 cubic meters for Riyadh (first stage), in addition to 450 dams spread all over the Kingdom.