The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture of Saudi Arabia has announced a new water desalination programme involving private sector participation worth over an estimated US$50 billion.

The programme will be split between the privatisation of brownfield schemes and the development of greenfield projects. The brownfield projects will involve selling the entirety of the existing desalination portfolio of the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), amounting to 29 plants. The greenfield projects will involve constructing eight new plants on a public private partnership (PPP) basis.

The programme comprises...