Gulf Construction Online

Saudi Focus

In Brief

01 January 2018

$2.4bn for water infrastructure

The Saudi government plans to spend more than SR9 billion ($2.4 billion) in building infrastructure for key water projects in the Makkah region, said a report.

The Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) has signed several contracts aimed at increasing water supply to some governorates in Makkah as well as ensuring supply to areas without water, reported the Arab News.

These projects include the construction of Phase Four of a seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant at Shoaiba in Jeddah, the transfer of technology and the purchase of produced water at the Shoaiba power and desalination plant, and the Shoaiba-Mina water transfer system.

In the Taif region, work is on to lay water pipelines from Arafat besides implementation of pumping stations, stated the report. The projects also include the manufacture and supply of the Rabigh-Jeddah-Makkah water transfer system and installation of pumping stations, it added.

Binzagr to set up logistics centre

Binzagr Company, a leading distributor in Saudi Arabia, has purchased 163,453 sq m of land in the Industrial Valley at King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) to set up a new logistics centre aiming to bolster its customer services.

The new facility will also guarantee the quality of Binzagr’s products, in addition to enhancing the speed, flexibility of movement and transportation of its products around the kingdom through the land bridge.

The new land purchase will add to its previous acquisition of 300,000 sq m in the Industrial Valley. Construction is expected to commence by Q2 2018 and the first production line is scheduled to be operational by Q3, 2019.

Aramco opens training centre

State oil giant Saudi Aramco and The Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) have jointly inaugurated a training institute for the construction sector in Al Nairiyah region of the kingdom.

A stand-alone nonprofit entity, the National Construction Training Centre (NCTC) provides nine-month academic courses and vocational training in English. The facility boasts lecture halls and training workshops and can handle 600 trainees.