Acciona to build, operate 3 sewage treatment plants in Saudi Arabia

Acciona with its local partners Tawzea and Tamasuk, has been awarded the financing, construction and 25-year operation of the Madinah-3, Buraydah-2 and Tabuk-2 sewage treatment plants in Saudi Arabia.

These new contracts, awarded by the state-owned Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC), are worth a combined $1bn (€855m).

These are the first BOOT/EPC (build, own, operate and transfer/engineering, procurement and construction) contracts that Acciona has signed in the area of wastewater treatment in the Middle East.

The Madinah-3 wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) will be located in Medina and will have a capacity of 200,000 m3/day (expandable to 375,000 m3/day) to treat urban wastewater. The company will be responsible for the facility’s development, design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance for 25 years, a statement said.

The group will also build 23km of recycled water collectors for irrigation, three storage tanks and the respective pumping stations. The Buraydah-2 (150,000 m3/day) and Tabuk-2 (90,000 m3/day) sewage treatment plants are located in rural areas in the central and northern regions of the country, respectively, and will serve one million inhabitants.

Acciona will develop, design, finance, construct and operate these two facilities for 25 years and will also build 34km of recycled water collectors for Buraydah-2 and another 28km of collectors for Tabuk-2. The three plants will each have a collection well and pumping station, pre-treatment installation, biological reactor, sludge line, and recycled water pumping station.

Last year, Acciona was awarded the construction of the Al Khobar 2 desalination plant, on the east coast of Saudi Arabia. In the same area, the group also completed the commissioning of the 210,000 m3/day Al Khobar 1 desalination plant in 2020, which can currently serve 350,000 inhabitants.

On the Red Sea coast, Acciona is also currently developing the Shuqaiq1 and Shuqaiq3 desalination plants, which will have a treatment capacity of 400,000 m3/day and 450,000 m3/day, respectively.

At the beginning of 2021, Acciona was appointed main turnkey contractor for the Jubail 3B desalination plant, a project to be developed and financed by a consortium formed by Engie, Nesma and Ajlan for SWCP, which will have a capacity of 570,000 m3/day to supply 2 million people in the cities of Riyadh and Qassim.

In the same region, Acciona designed and built the 100,000 m3/day Al Jubail RO4 seawater desalination plant for Marafiq, which serves both the city and the adjacent industrial complex in the east of the country.

Acciona’s business offer includes renewable energy, water treatment and management, eco-efficient transportation and mobility systems, resilient infrastructures, etc. The company recorded sales of €6.47bn in 2020 and has a business presence in more than 60 countries.