The National Water Company “NWC” announced today signing of the first management contract with the private sector to operate water and environmental treatment services in the northwestern cluster, which includes the regions of Medina and Tabuk, integrated under the umbrella of the company that signed with a Saudi-French-Philippine consortium at a cost of more than 198m Saudi Riyals ($52.5 million), for a period of seven years.
H.E. Engr. Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadley, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, NWC Chairman of the Board of Directors, oversaw the signing ceremony between Engr. Mohammed bin Ahmed Al-Mowkely the CEO of NWC with representatives of the consortium; Saudi Arabia’s Miyahuna, French Groupe Saur, and Manila Water of the Philippines.
The contract will contribute to improving services, operational performance and the level of operations at the sector level in general, including operational efficiency and technical knowledge, quality and availability of services and maintenance requirements, ensuring the sustainability of the service to the customer.
“The national water strategy included restructuring water services, involving the private sector, and the company has begun restructuring by merging 13 administrative districts to operate under the umbrella of 6 sectors” said NWC’s CEO Mohamed Bin Ahmed Al-Mowkely.
Al-Mowkely pointed out that one of the most important pillars of the Saudi Arabian Vision 2030 is the welfare of the citizen, the quality of the services provided to him, and that from this vision emerged the National Water Strategy 2030, and from it, emerged the strategy of the National Water Company, which developed detailed plans to upgrade the water distribution sector in the Kingdom, in partnership with the private sector to ensure financial sustainability, and the quality of services provided to customers.
He stressed that the need for management contracts for operation and maintenance that comes to keep pace with the big growth witnessed by the Kingdom in various fields, and that it is an important step in the way of improving water services in partnership with the private sector, pointing out the importance of bringing global expertise, as 27 experts of different nationalities will work in the Northwestern Cluster, in addition to developing the work, localizing smart technology and experience by transferring knowledge to Saudi employees, and preparing for concession contracts, which is the last stage of the allocation of services.
Engr. Al-Mowkely revealed that the contract with the winning consortium includes 14 key indicators that the consortium must achieve, the most important of which are: improving and developing the customer experience, raising operational efficiency by rationing costs, reducing water waste and improving network management, in addition to contributing to financial sustainability.
“A contract based on achieving key targets and specific value, in addition to motivating the consortium to do its utmost to obtain incentives in the event of higher performance,” he said, stressing that the contract period is 7 years and if the targets are met after the third year of the contract and the cluster’s readiness is increased, this will enable NWC to move directly to the concession contracts phase in which the private sector will take full responsibility in water services, and we will not wait until the seven years are over”.
It is noteworthy that the winning consortium has experience in water services management, as Miyahuna (a subsidiary of Roya Investment Company of the Abunayyan and Al-Muhidib Groups) is a leading developer of the water and sanitation infrastructure through public-private partnership “PPP” contracts. The French Groupe Saur, is a major international water service provider serving 12 million customers worldwide, has been present in the Kingdom through water supply, sewage treatment, industrial cooling services in Jubail and Yanbu in partnership with Marafeq. Manila Water is the operator of the concession contract on the east side of Manila, one of the largest and most successful concession contracts in Asia and has contributed to the transformation of water services for more than 7 million customers in Manila. Manila Water provides water services in the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia.
Source: nwc.com.sa
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