:: The Ministry of Water, Environment and Agriculture will launch three wastewater treatment projects in Jeddah, Dammam and the Northern Border region with the help of three global consultant companies.

The undersecretary of the ministry and CEO of the National Water Co. (NWC), Mohammed bin Ahmed Mukli, said that the projects in the Northern Border will cover provinces such as Turaif, Arrar and Saqaqa. He said that these projects will be offered to private sector establishments on a build-operate-transfer basis.

According to Mukli, the initial project will be a sewage treatment plant near Jeddah airport, which is slated to have a capacity of 500,000 cubic meters per day. “It will be put forward to the private sector for funding, implementation and operation, and then this will be followed in other cities such as Dammam, Turaif, Arrar and Saqaqa.”

In an earlier statement, Mukli said that the cost to complete and implement the projects’ networks, connections and wastewater transmission lines would be SR2.2 billion ($586.6 million) with a length of more than 1,400 km.