Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) announced on Tuesday the successful financial close of the 600,000 cubic metres/day (m3/day) Rabigh-4 Indepdent Water Plant (IWP) project.

The sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant is scheduled to start commercial operations in the first quarter of 2026, and supply potable water to the Makkah and Madinah regions, SWPC said in a press statement.

A consortium comprising of ACWA Power, Almoayyed Group, and Haji Abdullah Alireza Company (HAACO) will build and operate the plant for a period of 25 years, the statement said.

The winning consortium had submitted a levelised water cost tariff of 1.7162 Saudi riyals/m3, equivalent to $0.46/m3, for the project.

Rabigh-4 IWP project will also feature storage tanks with a capacity of 1,200,000 m3/day (equivalent to two operating days) to assist in optimizing the availability and reliability of water resources in the two regions.

Khalid Al-Quraishi, the CEO of SWPC, stated: “Rabigh-4 consortium managed to successfully complete the financial closure in close collaboration with the group of lenders, despite the shifting global market conditions. This demonstrates SWPC’s commitment to fully support investment projects and to increase private sector participation by giving local and foreign investors the opportunity to participate in the implementation of these projects.

(Writing by Anoop Menon; Editing by Bhaskar Raj)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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