Saudi Water Partnership Company has announced that work is currently underway to launch 18 new water projects worth SAR45 billion ($12 billion) across the kingdom over the next three years.

Of these, contracts for eight projects worth SAR30 billion are likely to be awarded within the next twelve months, said SWPC Chief Executive Officer Engineer Khalid bin Zuwaid Al Quraishi, adding the expected returns for these projects range between 7% and 10%.

Al Quraishi was speaking at a workshop for the Contractors Incentive Initiative, organised by SWPC in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and the National Center for Privatization.

One of the largest workshops of SWPC, it drew more than 100 companies along with its workers. The event was aimed at stimulating local contractors and enhancing their participation in future water sector projects, said SWPC in a statement.

It involved discussions on public-private partnerships, contractor qualification mechanisms, and the role of the Saudi Contractors Authority, in addition to reviewing successful experiences in water desalination and wastewater treatment projects.

The workshop also aimed at providing an appropriate environment between the public and private sectors to facilitate future projects in the field of water development, it added.

Al Quraishi pointed out that these initiatives will help boost the level of competitiveness among local contractors and search for new investment opportunities in the water sector besides motivating them to undertake privatisation programmes and projects.

SWPC, through this initiative, aims to provide proposals to develop the capabilities of local contractors and enhance their competitiveness in light of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, he added.

"Owing to the overwhelming response, we are looking forward to hosting a second workshop soon covering diverse topics with focus on specialised technical matters," he added.

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