Environment & Energy | Wednesday 4 February, 2015 2:31 pm |

Black & Veatch has been chosen by the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) as engineering and design consultant for the Jeddah 4 project. This major desalination scheme will augment dramatically water supply in Saudi Arabia’s second largest city.

Jeddah 4 will enhance water resources for the city’s five million people by creating a 400 mega litres per day (mld) reverse osmosis (RO) plant. Saudi Arabia is the world’s biggest producer of desalinated water. When completed, Jeddah 4 will be among the kingdom’s largest desalination plants.

“An augmented water supply is central to the prosperity and continued development of Jeddah. SWCC, through critical infrastructure projects such as Jeddah 4, has proved highly effective in addressing the kingdom’s water requirements,” said Mazen Alami, Managing Director, Middle East at Black & Veatch.

“Black & Veatch is a recognised leader in the best practices and technologies shaping the water industry; our desalination expertise extends across the entire value chain. Our experience with large-scale desalination projects around the world will help the corporation serve the needs of Jeddah’s growing populace,” he added.

Jeddah 4 will be tendered on an engineer, procure, construct (EPC) basis. Black & Veatch will be responsible for studies of site and adjacent sea conditions, conceptual process and engineering design, and preparation of tender documents. In addition Black & Veatch will support SWCC during the tendering and award of the EPC contract.

Black & Veatch has been serving the Middle East since the 1920s, undertaking projects that enhance quality of life: power generation to support economic development, and water and sanitation to improve health. The company has worked with SWCC since 1993, notably on the Shoaibah to Jeddah Water Transmission System.