Cape Town firm GrahamTek wins R5bn desalination plant contract in Saudi Arabia
- February 8, 2018
- Posted by: administrator
- Category: Water Treatment, Africa
A Cape Town desalination company has won a R5-billion contract for a desalination plant in Saudi Arabia.
The contract to design‚ build and operate the plant was awarded to GrahamTek by the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC)‚ which operates a number of water treatment plants across Saudi Arabia.
The SWCC is a Saudi Government Corporation responsible for the desalination of seawater producing electric power and supplying various regions in the Kingdom with desalinated water. The corporation operates 28 dual purpose plants across 17 sites on the eastern and western coasts of the Kingdom – total production represents more than 69% of total desalinated water production.
SWCC controls about 40% of the world’s desalination plants, and produces 6 billion litres of water for Saudi Arabia every day.
SWCC’s Saline Water Desalination Research Institute in Jubail is one of the major research institutes in the Middle East.
Commenting on the contract win in an interview with Bruce Whitfield, host of Cape Talk’s The Money Show, GrahamTek CEO Julius Steyn said:
“Saudi Arabia is investing ahead of the future demand caused by population growth‚ replacement of ageing infrastructure as well as an increase in urbanisation. The prolonged low oil prices compelled Saudi Arabia to consider the latest technologies that would provide desalinated water at the most cost-effective prices.”
“It’s a highly competitive and merciless industry, particularly in the Middle East.”
“Based on the successes achieved with this work done‚ SWCC asked GrahamTek to design a modular desalination plant optimised for their local conditions. This resulted in the contract we received today‚” he said.
The plant, the sixth to be built by GrahamTek in Saudi Arabia, will take 18 months to build.