The Saur-SOMCO consortium bags contract worth SR173 million to manage and operate water/ wastewater infrastructure in both cities

Saudi Arabia ’s National Water Company (NWC) has announced that a French-Saudi consortium of Saur and Zamil Operations & Maintenance (ZOMCO) has won the SR173-million contract to manage and operate the water and wastewater infrastructure in Makkah and Taif cities for a period of five years.

The announcement on the NWC website futher notes that the transfer of all functions concerning the operation and management of water and wastewater sector in these two cities to the winning consortium will be carried out in the coming months.

The Saur-ZOMCO alliance will oversee the development, management, operation and maintenance of the water and wastewater sector, management and development of customers’ services, revenue collection, reduction of water leakages, training, prequalifying, and development of existing employees and personnel in Makkah and Taif. Nearly 785 employees will be seconded from the water directorates of Makkah and Taif to NWC. At present, both cities receive approximately 680,000m3/day of water to cater to the requirements of their 2,176,245 permanent residents and an annual influx of seven million pilgrims and visitors.

After the transfer of the functions of Makkah and Taif cities, the company will have covered more than 46% of the total supplies of water in the Kingdom as well as 40% of the Kingdom’s population within three years. NWC said that its strategic plan aiming at the privatisation of the water and wastewater sector in the targeted cities are on schedule.

In France, Saur is an outsourced water and sanitation services operator providing potable water and wastewater treatment services to 5.5 million customers in more than 6,700 communes and cities, while managing approximately 5,700 water contracts. In 2009, the Saur group reported net sales of €1.5 billion. ZOMCO is owned by the Zamil Group Holding Company.

Other bidders for the Makkah-Taif contract were Veolia Water, Aqualia, and consortiums of AGBAR Group-Wesco Bosniac, United Utilities-Saudi SAPAC, Puncak Niaga Holdings Berhad- Severn Trent-Saudi Miahona, ACCIONA-YTL Power-Wessex Water and Ranhill- JUSCO- Arab Economic and Business Group (Al-Amal).

NWC is also planning to launch a new package of projects for water and wastewater sectors in the near future. These include the third phase of wastewater treatment project on the Al-Kharj expressway with a capacity of 100,000m3/day and the execution of 20 projects to connect customers’ houses with existing wastewater systems.