Shuaibah conveyors move on

10 February 2006

The Royal Court in late January gave final approval for the giant western water transmission system project, paving the way for the two long-awaited contracts to be awarded. The client is Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC - MEED 20:1:06).

The Dutch/local consortium of A Hak International, Al-Rashid Trading & Contracting Company and Saudi Services for Electro-Mechanical Works Company (SSEM) has been formally awarded the estimated $580 million contract to install the pipeline, which will link the planned Shuaibah independent water and power plant (IWPP) with cities and towns in the western region. The local Aziz European Pipe Company has been awarded the estimated $265 million contract to supply just under 350 kilometres of carbon steel pipe with varying diameters of up to 80 inches (MEED 24:6:05).

SWCC is in negotiations with Al-Rashid for two other pipeline contracts. The first, worth just over SR 350 million ($93 million), covers the supply and installation of a conveyor system for Arar near the Iraqi border. Under the terms of the contract, the contractor will drill 29 wells at the wellhead, and connect it with Arar via a 35-kilometre-long ductile iron pipeline with diameters of 200-1,000 millimetres. The scheme also involves the construction of storage tanks with capacity of 30,000 cubic metres, a 75,000-cubic-metre-a-day (cm/d) reverse osmosis (RO) facility and a five-kilometre-long city pipeline network. The second two-year contract, worth about SR 580 million ($155 million), covers the Hail area, about six hours south of Riyadh. It involves the drilling of 22 wells at Hail and connecting the wellhead to a pumping station via a 22-kilometre-long ductile iron pipe. The conveyor then branches into two toward the towns of Buzzakha and Tawarin via two steel pipeline branches.

The first branch, to Buzzakha, has a length of 100 kilometres and a diameter of 700 millimetres. The second, to Tawarin, is 80 kilometres long and has diameters of 500-900 millimetres. Storage tanks and RO facilities will be built in both towns. The consultant on all three schemes is Austria's ILF Consulting Engineers.

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