Saudi Arabia’s Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) has invited companies to submit bids for the contract to expand the desalination component of the Shoaiba 2 power and desalination plant, located just south of Jeddah.

The work will involve constructing a multi-effect distillation (MED) expansion unit to increase the water desalination capacity of the plant by 16 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD). The existing Shouaibah 2 plant has a capacity of about 85MIGD.

The project is part of the kingdom’s efforts to boost desalination capacity due to demand rising about 6 per cent a year, as a result of annual population growth of 2-3 per cent and an expanding economy.

One of the last major contract awards in the desalination sector was made in late 2012, when South Korea’s Doosan was awarded the estimated $1bn contract to build the desalination component of the Yanbu 3 power and water project, which will have a desalination component of 120MIGD.

In January, SWCC invited companies to prequalify for two contracts to build large water transmission pipelines in Riyadh.

The pipelines are part of the new city feeder plan for the transmission of desalinated water in the capital. The first contract will involve supplying the pipes and the second will involve installation of the pipelines in Riyadh. The manufacturer can either supply 131 kilometres of 80-inch diameter pipes or 45km of 100-inch diameter pipes.