Pöyry, an international consulting and engineering company, said it has secured the owner’s engineer services contract from the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) for the Shuqaiq Phase Three water transmission system project in Saudi Arabia. 

The scope of work includes review of contractor’s engineering services and supervision of construction, erection and commissioning.

The Shuqaiq Phase Three Water Transmission System (WTS) is composed of three packages. These are: Package B1: Pipeline for Shuqaiq-Majardah WTS (SMWTS); Package B2: Pipeline for pipelaying for Shuqaiq-Abha WTS (SAWTS-3), Shuqaiq-Samta WTS (SSWTS-3) and  Baysh Dam-Shuqaiq WTS (BSWTS); and Package C: Construction of pumping stations PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, PSQ, PSJ, PS-TI and PSU.

Apart from the complexity of having several EPC contractors working on the project’s three different packages, the Shuqaiq WTS is one of the most complex water transmission systems in the kingdom, said the Finnish company.

On its route from the Shuqaiq Three desalination plant on the Red Sea coast, the pumped water has to overcome a positive gradient of more than 2,000 m as well as cut through several mountains by means of tunnels. The total water transmission capacity of Shuqaiq Phase Three WTS, once integrated with Shuqaiq Phase Four WTS, will be 650,000 cu m per day, it added.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Water and Electricity Company (WEC) said it has received bids from consortiums led by six leading global players in the utility sector for the kingdom’s Shuqaiq Three independent water project.

The proposed seawater reverse osmosis plant will boast a daily capacity of 380,000 cu m. WEC is likely to award the contract to the successful bidder by the end of this year.