The US/local AES Arabia has been awarded a contract to design, build and commission a seawater reverse-osmosis plant to provide water for the King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (Kaust) research park, north of Jeddah.

The work will involve manufacturing and commissioning the plant, which will have the capacity to produce 2,752 gallons of water a minute. The contractor for the research park project is China National Chemical Engineering Company (CNEC) and the client is state oil firm, Saudi Aramco.

AES Arabia previously built an 8,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) sewage treatment plant and participated in the construction of a 52,000 cm/d reverse-osmosis plant for Kaust.

Kaust is one of the largest universities in the kingdom, with the campus covering a total area of 36 square kilometre and containing 3,000 residential units for students and staff.