Saudi “Miahona”, France’s “Saur Group”, and Philippines’ “Manila Water” Consortium wins O&M management contract of Esatern Region at SR 221M preliminary to concession contracts

National Water Company (NWC) announced, that a Saudi-French-Philippines consortium of Saudi Arabia's “Miahona”, France's Saur Group, and Philippine’s “Manila Water” won the third management contract. The consortium will undertake operation of the water and environmental treatment services in the Eastern Cluster (Eastern Region), at a value of more than 221 million Saudi Riyals, for a period of Seven years. This is done after NWC Board approval, chaired by Eng. Abdul Rahman bin Abdul Mohsen Al Fadhli, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture on awarding the management contract for the Eastern Region, which became entirely under the umbrella of the company in March 2021.  

NWC stated that the winning consortium has the experience in water services and environmental treatment management, as Miahona (under Vision Global Investment, a subsidiary of the Abunian and Al-Muhaidib groups) is a leading developer of the water and sanitation infrastructure in the last 20 years. The French “Saur Group” is a major international provider of  water services serving more than 20 million customers worldwide, and have been present in the Kingdom through its water supply, wastewater treatment, and industrial refrigeration services in Jubail and Yanbu in partnership with Marafeq. “Manila Water” is the operator of the concession contract on Manila city  east side, one of Asia’s largest and most successful concession contracts. “Manila Water” also contributed to the transformation of water services for more than 14 million customers in Manila and around the world, in addition to providing water services in the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.

Eng. Mohamed bin Ahmed Al Mowkely, NWC CEO said” We are working to achieve the objectives of The Kingdom's Vision 2030 and the National Water Strategy by restructuring water distribution services and engaging the private sector on the road to the privatization stage. With God’s help, the company achieved 94% of the restructuring project” 

Al-Mowkely added that management contracts are one of the main pillars for improving the sector, and equipping it for full privatization. By awarding this contract, we have completed the award of three contracts for the management of operation and maintenance, and we intend, with the help of God, to complete our implementation program by awarding management contracts for the remaining clusters, namely Western Cluster, Southern Cluster and Northern Cluster by the end of December 2021.   

He pointed out that these contracts depend on achieving 14 key indicators that the Consortium must achieve, the most important of which are: improving the customer experience and developing it, raising operational efficiency through cost rationalization, reducing water loss, and improving network management. Al-Mowkely indicated that the contract term is 7 years, and if targets are met after the third year of the contract, and  the readiness of the sector increased, this will enable the National Water Company to move directly to the phase of concession contracts in which the private sector will take full responsibility for water services, and not to wait until the seven years are over.