Financial News Agency, November 2 (Intern Editor Gao Jianing)Saudi Water Cooperation Corporation (SWPC) recently announced that the company's Rabigh-4 desalination plant project with a daily output of 600,000 m³ has completed financial financing. This major project, with the participation of Chinese enterprises, will be completed and put into operation in two and a half years.

According to SWPC, the Rabigh 4 IWP reverse osmosis desalination (SWRO) plant plans to commence commercial operations in the first quarter of 2026 and supply drinking water to the Mecca and Medina regions. Once completed, the Rabigh-4 independent water plant will be equipped with 1.2 million m3/day water storage tanks to guarantee the supply of water resources in these two regions.

Previously, a consortium composed of China Power Construction, Shandong Power Construction, and Saudi WETICO obtained an EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) contract for the project in July this year, at a total cost of about US$677 million.

A consortium composed of ACWA Electric Power, Almoayye Group, and Haji Abdullah Alireza (HAACO), a global multi-purpose shipping operator, will be responsible for building and operating the plant for a period of 25 years, and has submitted a fixed water bill of 1.7162 Saudi riyals per m³ (about $0.46 per m³).

ACWA Power also currently operates the Rabigh 3 Independent Water Plant (IWP) in the region, known as one of the world's largest desalination plants.Once the Rabigh 4 Independent Water Plant (IWP) is put into operation, the region's seawater desalination capacity will double to 1.2 million m³/day.

Currently, ACWA Power has a total seawater desalination capacity of 6.8 million m³/day, which is enough to make it the largest private seawater desalination project operator in the world. The company now operates 16 desalination plants in 4 countries, 10 of which are located in Saudi Arabia, meeting 30% of local water needs.