Gulf Construction Online - Marubeni team starts work on desal project

Saudi Focus

Marubeni team starts work on desal project

01 June 2019

Marubeni Corporation, a leading developer and operator of international power projects, said its consortium has started work on the Shuqaiq 3 independent water project (IWP) following the closing of a major project finance agreement.

The consortium – which includes Marubeni (45 per cent), Spanish sustainable solutions leader Acciona Agua (10 per cent) and Saudi groups Abdul Latif Jameel Commercial Development Company (30 per cent), Rawafid (15 per cent) – set up a new company, Shuqaiq Three Company For Water, for the development of the Saudi project.

The contract was awarded by Water and Electricity Company (WEC), the state-owned firm in charge of desalination and water treatment projects, to the company early this year. As per the deal, the water produced at the Shuqaiq plant will be sold to WEC for a 25-year period.

Shuqaiq Three Company For Water will be responsible for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the reverse osmosis (RO)-based seawater desalination plant. The IWP will be located in the city of Shuqaiq, on the Red Sea coast, approximately 137 km north of Jazan, and will be powered by electricity from the high voltage grid. Once the project gets operational in 2021, the plant will generate 450,000 cu m of water per day that can cater to a population of two million people.

As a first step, Shuqaiq Three Company For Water has secured a limited-recourse financing loan worth $500 million for this project. The loan was co-financed by six commercial banks – MUFG, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, The National Commercial Bank, The Norinchukin Bank, Samba Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.