Hyflux signs MOU to develop desalination plants in Saudi Arabia

WATER treatment firm Hyflux will be building three desalination plants in Saudi Arabia.

Hyflux, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hydrochem Saudi, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Saudi Arabia's state-owned Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) on Sunday.

This followed a public tender to design, build, supply, test and commission the seawater reverse osmosis desalination plants in Duba, Wajh and Haql, along the Red Sea coast in the western region of the kingdom.

The MOU signing ceremony was at an industry conference held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia and witnessed by Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture of Saudi Arabia, Abdulrahman Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli and Singapore's Minister of Environment and Water Resources, Masagos Zulkifli.

The three plants, valued at an estimate of 687 million riyal (S$260.3 million), will each have a designed capacity of 16,000 cubic metres per day. They will use reverse osmosis membrane technologies to treat seawater and turn it into water suitable for potable use.

In a filing with the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Monday, Hyflux said construction of these plants will start when the contracts have been finalised.

These desalination projects are expected to have a material financial impact on Hyflux pending the finalisation of the contracts.