Veolia Water has won the performance contract on a six years period with the Ministry of Water and Electricity of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for water production and distribution and wastewater collection for Riyadh, capital of the Kingdom with a 4,5 million inhabitant's population.
Riyadh
A long term presence
Already present in the country through Metito Arabia Industries, subsidiary company of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, and Seureca (lien vers la page Seureca du site Internet), the international consulting engineers subsidiary of Veolia Water, which has worked, among others, on the extension of the water distribution networks of Riyadh and Jeddah in the 1980's, Veolia Water is now in charge of the first performance contract of that kind in Saudi Arabia.
One of the most important contract entrusted to Veolia Water in the world
This contract will represent a total estimated cumulative revenue of 60 million US$, to which will be added a revenue on the basis of an incentive system linked to the performance and savings achieved.
This is the first time Saudi Arabia has awarded a contract for water services to a private operator, and it is also Veolia Water's most important contract regarding the combination of two major stakes, both number of people served and length of drinking water network: Indeed, 4,5 million inhabitants will be served thanks to a more than 10 000 km long drinking water network.
Signature of the contract in Riyadh in April 2008
New challenges for this partnership
In volume, this corresponds to water production of approximately 1,5 million m3 per day, 55% of this water coming from seawater desalination, pumped in the Arab-Persian Gulf, treated in Jubail then transported to Riyadh over about a 500km distance, and for the remaining 45% of subterranean water of 200 wells in the Riyadh region, treated in situ by 8 plants. All in all, 28% of the volumes produced in the Kingdom are absorbed in only the city if Riyadh.
Regarding the wastewater collection, second part of the contract, 1,9 millions inhabitants out of the 4,5 million inhabitants of the city have currently access to this service. That means that 60% of the capital areas remain unconnected to the collection network. Again, this is a real challenge.
Besides theses technical stakes, Veolia Water will also accompany the current evolution of water policy, from a production approach towards a demand management approach, with among others a new kind of approach towards customer relations.
Our mission in the frame of this contract will be multiple:
- reducing water leakage by half
- ensuring continuous drinking water supply by the end of the contract
- developing the rate of linking to the wastewater network (2,5 million more inhabitants should be connected by the end of the contract)
- improving customer service.
This contract reinforces our presence in Saudi Arabia and represents an important step of its development in the Middle East.