The National Water Company (NWC) said yesterday that it is completing the initial stages of the first and largest phase of its strategic storage project for Riyadh.
It will provide 600,000 cubic meters (159 million gallons) of storage capacity at a cost of SR 250 million ($67 million). Production is to come on line gradually, and is expected to reach maximum capacity by the summer of 2015. The project services the west Riyadh neighbourhoods of Laban, Aeryjae and Tuwaiq.
NWC has also finalised contracts for the remaining first-phase of the strategic water storage project which will provide an additional 4 million cubic meters (1,000 million gallons) at a cost of approximately SR 1.6 billion ($427 million). Work has already begun in four locations in Riyadh, and is scheduled to be completed in 18 months.
These projects are designed to deal with any shortfall in the water supply caused by maintenance procedures, production problems or network.
First-phase projects were distributed in separate locations throughout the city to ensure continuity of supply, streamlined connectivity with networks and to avoid any failures in transmission lines as the NWC implements its strategic plan for a secure and sustainable water supply to keep up with Riyadh’s construction boom.
The second phase of the NWC’s strategy to build a sustainable and secure water supply for Riyadh will entail developing further storage capacity of 6 million cubic meters (1.6 billion gallons) at a cost of SR 2.6 billion ($690 million).
The strategic storage project includes the construction of main transmission lines with diameters of 0.3-2 metres and water tanks with capacities of 5,000 and 50,000 cubic metres. These will cost more than SR 3 billion ($800 million).
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