Saudis in talks about Yemen desalination project

The chairman of Saudi water and power company ACWA Power International, Mohammad Abunayyan, was received by Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, on 23 May 2010 for talks about the second Mocha seawater desalination project.

The president stressed the importance of carrying out two projects – the desalination plant and the Mocha-Taiz-Ibb water supply pipelines – simultaneously and as soon as possible.

Minister of water and environment Abdul-Rahman al-Iriyani is quoted as saying that Hayel Saeed Anam Group of Yemen, which already owns a 4,500 m³/d plant on the Mocha coast, would join the Saudi investment in the desalination project. The minister said that implementation of the US$ 200 million project would be launched by the end of 2010 and would provide water for governorates of Taiz and Ibb.

The director of the National Water & Sanitation Authority, Taiz branch, Fuad Al-Jaberi, speaking to the Yemen News Agency earlier in May, said that Taiz city experience a water shortage of 26,000 m³/d.

According to him, the unit would provide Taiz city with approximately 50,000 m³/d. With this supply, the individual daily share of water would increase from 30 L/d currently to 60  L/d.