King Salman gives desalination in Saudi Arabia a boost with new mobile plants

A worker at a desalination plant in Saudi Arabia.

LONDON: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has given the water sector a boost with plans to spend as much as SR175 million ($46.6 million) each year on mobile desalination plants.
It comes amid rapidly expanding demand for water in the Kingdom and will top up supplies while larger scale plants are under development across the country.
Abdul Rahman bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Fadhli, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture who is also the chairman of the the Saline Water Conservation Corporation, said: “This generous order to allocate this amount annually will contribute to the increase of the Corporation’s supply of desalinated water in a short time, until the completion of the Corporation’s current projects”. 

The mobile stations will initially be deployed in the regions of Jazan and Asir and may then be moved to other areas.
They will use energy-saving reverse osmosis technology to produce desalinated water.
The minister added that the Saline Water Conservation Corporation will invite qualified companies to submit their offers.