Market brief
Saudi Arabia
The authorities that procure water infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, how the deals are put together, and what is in the pipeline.
Reference profile for Saudi ArabiaOverview
Privately financed water assets in Saudi Arabia are procured by one buyer. Sharakat, owned by the Ministry of Finance, is the principal water off-taker and tenders desalination, sewage treatment, transmission and strategic storage schemes as partnerships.1 2 Independent water plants are let as build-own-operate contracts and the other asset classes as build-own-operate-transfer, for 25 years on recent plants and 35 on the two large transmission lines.3 Qualification is a standing status; the first round, in 2024, qualified more than 80 developers.4 The register tracks 51 schemes with US$ 21.5 bn of disclosed value, US$ 4.1 bn of it in projects not yet operating.5 The ministry confirms affordability before a tender is approved and can approve credit support.6 Against that, a foreign governing law, arbitration or relief from Saudisation needs approval rather than being available as of right, and household tariffs remain far below production cost.6 7
Market snapshot
The commercial picture in Saudi Arabia: the scale of the economy and the water sector, the investment climate, and where the near-term activity is concentrated.
Political stability
World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators score, 0–100 (absolute scale), 2025. Political stability; higher is more stable.8
Investment climate
World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators score, 0–100 (absolute scale), 2025. Regulatory quality for private investment; higher is better.8
Key institutions
- Ministry of Environment, Water & Agriculture (MEWA)Ministry
- Saudi Water Authority (SWA)Regulator
- National Water Company (NWC)Utility
- Saudi Water Authority (production arm)Utility
Financing & PPP
- PPP frameworkMature (Sharakat, formerly SWPC, is the principal water off-taker and tenders the PPPs)
- Tracked projectsUS$ 21.5 bn disclosed value in our projects register, of which US$ 4.1 bn pipeline (not yet operating)
- Active fundersPublic Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi National Bank
- Climate adaptation planNo NAP; adaptation in NDC (second NDC, December 2025)
Opportunities
- 01Giga-project water systems (Diriyah, Red Sea; NEOM scaled back)
- 02Reverse-osmosis & solar desalination
- 03Treated wastewater reuse: 70% by 2030 (National Water Strategy target)
- 04Smart-network & NRW programmes
Key challenges
- 01World's largest desalinated-water producer
- 02Depleting non-renewable aquifers
- 03High per-capita consumption
- 04Energy & carbon intensity
Sources and notes
Sources: Water use by sector: Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, 2019, in Saudi Arabia's Fourth National Communication to the UNFCCC (2022). Supply mix: General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), Water Accounts 2023. Water losses: Sharakat 7 Year Statement 2025–2031 (March 2026), p. 20, citing MEWA (33% in 2025; target about 15% by 2031). Other figures: FAO AQUASTAT / national reports (latest available); World Bank WDI (latest year, shown on each tile). Figures approximate. Governance indicators: World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (2025).
Contracting authorities
The bodies that commission, regulate and operate water infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture sets policy and the Saudi Water Authority regulates the sector.9 Sharakat, owned by the Ministry of Finance, is the principal water off-taker and tenders the PPPs;1 2 the Saudi Water Authority still operates most of the former SWCC production fleet while those assets are transferred to the Water Solutions Company,10 and the National Water Company runs the city networks and water and wastewater services.
- Ministry of Environment, Water & Agriculture (MEWA)Ministry
- Saudi Water Authority (SWA)Regulator
- National Water Company (NWC)Utility
- ACWA PowerDeveloper / operator
- Public Investment Fund (PIF)Fund
- Saudi Irrigation Organization (SIO)Irrigation & drainage
- Saudi Water Authority (production arm)Bulk producer
- Sharakat (Saudi Water Partnership Company)PPP procurer
- Water Transmission Company (WTCO)Bulk transmission and storage
How deals are structured
The framework in Saudi Arabia is Mature (Sharakat, formerly SWPC, is the principal water off-taker and tenders the PPPs), the schemes we track carry US$ 21.5 bn of disclosed value, US$ 4.1 bn of it in projects not yet operating, and the funders most active in the sector are Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi National Bank.
Delivery splits by asset class across the region: dams and trunk conveyance are often engineering contracts carried by sovereign or development-bank finance; bulk supply increasingly uses build-operate-transfer concessions against a long-term offtake; and distribution work is let as performance-based contracts paid against measured leakage reduction. The Finance & Economics hub sets out each model and where it has been used.
The projects register gives a partial view. Of the 51 tracked schemes in Saudi Arabia, 9 name a concession or independent-producer structure in the finance note; the rest record only where the money came from, which is not the same as saying they were not concessions.
How to bid
Saudi Arabia runs the most systematic water procurement in the region, and the single most useful fact about it is that qualification is a standing status rather than a per-project exercise. Sharakat, which is owned by the Ministry of Finance and which took over the swpc.sa address, runs a developer pre-qualification programme.1 Its first edition launched in May 2024, attracted over 100 interested developers and qualified more than 80; a qualified developer receives the request for proposals for relevant projects without submitting a separate qualification application.4 The programme reopened in March 2025, attracting more than 60 interested developers, and results were announced on 15 December 2025. Sharakat said registration would reopen periodically from March 2026, with details to be published.11
| Procuring body | Sharakat, the Saudi Water Partnership Company, owned by the Ministry of Finance. It procures desalination, sewage treatment, water transmission and strategic water storage schemes.1 |
|---|---|
| Route | Standing developer pre-qualification, then a request for proposals issued to the qualified list.4 Separately, Sharakat launched a Contractor Qualification Initiative in 2024 to support local contractors, with increasing local content among its objectives.12 |
| Registration | Vendor registration for corporate services is by email to Sharakat’s procurement address; project bidding runs through the pre-qualification programme rather than the vendor list.13 |
| Local content | The Saudi Water Authority reports 66.1% local content achieved, SAR 23.4 bn of local spending against SAR 36 bn of project and service cost, and names the target categories: reverse-osmosis membranes and pressure vessels, chemicals, pumps, valves, energy recovery devices, filters, motors and spares.14 |
| Contract form and term | Build-own-operate for independent water plants; build-own-operate-transfer for sewage treatment, transmission pipelines and strategic water reservoirs. Twenty-five years on recent plants, thirty-five years on the Rayis to Rabigh and Jubail to Buraydah transmission lines.3 |
| Offtake counterparty | Sharakat, under a water purchase or water transmission agreement.3 |
| Payment security | Under the Private Sector Participation Law the Ministry of Finance confirms affordability before a tender is approved, allocates budget for the public party’s obligations and approves additional financial and credit support.6 Sharakat may provide sovereign guarantees through the Ministry of Finance where appropriate; for Jubail to Buraydah, its obligations under the water transfer agreement are guaranteed by a Ministry of Finance credit support agreement.15 16 |
| Governing law and language | Saudi law and Arabic are the defaults. The law permits arbitration, a foreign governing law and non-Arabic contracting, but each needs the approving authority’s consent rather than being available as of right.6 |
| Listing requirement | Council of Ministers Resolution 496 requires partnership projects to be listed on the Saudi exchange through a direct or indirect public offering.6 |
| Labour | The law allows a project to be excluded from certain labour provisions, including Saudisation, again by approval rather than by right.6 |
The legal basis is the Private Sector Participation Law, approved by Council of Ministers Resolution No. 436 of 3/8/1442H and in force 120 days after publication.6
Regulatory intelligence
| Regulation | Status | Year | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Water Strategy 2030 | In force | 2018 | Full-chain restructuring: privatisation, reuse 70%, metering. |
| Private Sector Participation Law | In force | 2021 | Framework law for PPPs, including Sharakat’s IWP/ISTP programme. |
| Water Law | In force | 2020 | Abstraction licensing, service regulation, penalties. |
| Tariff reform | Revised | 2016 | Block tariff raised in 2016; prices remained far below production cost.7 |
| Irrigation restrictions (wheat/fodder) | In force | 2016/2019 | Wheat production was phased out by 2016, but licensed small farmers may grow wheat on up to 50 ha and sell to the state under a programme renewed in 2024, capped at 1.5 million tonnes a year; perennial green-fodder cultivation was phased out under the 2019 restrictions, while seasonal fodder remains permitted under controls.17 |
Primary references: MEWA and the Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC).
Projects
Tracked schemes in Saudi Arabia, largest first. Each has its own page with the parties, the finance and a dated history.
Sources and notes
Interactive map: switch views, hover or focus a marker, and use the +/− controls (or double-click, then drag) to zoom and pan. Geometry and data from the MENA Water Review library.
51 tracked in total. The full set, filterable, is in the major projects register.
Track record
Contracts on record in Saudi Arabia, from the awards log and the major projects register, dated by commissioning where known.
Disclosed value by year
US$ bn of tracked awards in Saudi Arabia carrying a published value
17 further awards in this sector have no value recorded in our register and are not in the chart.
| Year | Project | Winning firms | US$ m |
|---|---|---|---|
| under construction | Al-Haier ISTP | Miahona, BESIX, Marafiq developer | n/a |
| 2026 on line | Rabigh 4 IWP | ACWA Power, Haji Abdullah Alireza & Co, Almoayyed Contracting Group developer | 677 |
| 2025 | Hadda ISTP | Metito, Etihad Water and Electricity, SkyBridge developer | n/a |
| 2025 | Jubail–Buraydah IWTP | Aljomaih Energy & Water, Nesma, Buhur developer | 2,267 |
| 2025 | Ras Mohaisen IWP | ACWA Power, Haji Abdullah Alireza & Co, AlKifah Holding developer | 685 |
| 2025 on line | Buraydah 2 ISTP | Acciona, Tawzea, Tamasuk developer | n/a |
| 2025 on line | Jubail 5 SWRO (Jubail 2 Replacement) | Saudi Services for Electro Mechanic Works, Metito contractor | n/a |
| under construction | Jubail SWRO Plant (Lantania and MGC) | Lantania, Mutlaq Al-Ghowairi Contracting Company contractor | 544 |
| 2025 on line | Madinah 3 ISTP | Acciona, Tawzea, Tamasuk developer | n/a |
| 2025 on line | Shuaibah 3 IWP (2025) | ACWA Power developer | 821 |
| under construction | Shuaibah 6 Desalination Project | Rawafid Industrial contractor | n/a |
| 2024 on line | Yanbu 4 IWP | ENGIE, Nesma, Mowah developer | 880 |
| 2023 | Rayis–Rabigh IWTP | Alkhorayef Water & Power, Cobra / Tedagua developer | 640 |
| 2023 | Riyadh Manfouha Wastewater Complex | Alkhorayef Water & Power contractor | 432 |
Sources and notes
Years without a label are award years from the curated log; rows marked on line are dated by commissioning, from the projects register. Register rows without a commissioning date show their stage instead: awarded, with the year recorded, or under construction or operating, with no year. 38 rows in total for Saudi Arabia; the 14 most recent are shown.
Repeat winners
- ACWA Power10 tracked awards, as developer
- Acciona6 tracked awards, 3 as developer, 3 as contractor
- Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction4 tracked awards, as contractor
- ENGIE3 tracked awards, as developer
- Metito3 tracked awards, 2 as developer, 1 as contractor
- Nesma3 tracked awards, as developer
Pipeline & tenders
Structured procurements and live tenders in Saudi Arabia, drawn from the same review that maintains the pipeline tracker.
Pipeline & awards
Tenders
Prices
What households pay
| Household tariff (US$/m³) | Cost of supply (US$/m³) | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0.03 – 1.60 | about $0.61 | 2022 | US-Saudi Business Council, Saudi Arabia's water sector (February 2022), Table 1, from NWC7 |
Steeply blocked: SAR 0.10/m³ for the first 15 m³ a month rising to SAR 6.00 above 60 m³ for water alone, and SAR 0.15 to 9.00 with sewage. This is the schedule as reproduced by the US-Saudi Business Council from the National Water Company; confirm against NWC before relying on it. The cost is SWCC's estimated weighted average production cost of SAR 2.27/m³ in 2020, from the same brief.
Residential tariffs, and the cost of supply where a utility publishes it, are kept in one place for the whole region so the comparison holds: a tariff means little without the cost it is measured against.
Watch list
What has actually moved in Saudi Arabia, dated, from the monthly briefings. Each item names the edition it came from.
- September 2026Sharakat received five bids for the Riyadh East sewage treatment plant; the National Water Company signed a 1.3 billion riyal operation contract for nine sewage plants.From the October 2026 briefing
The full editions are in the briefing archive.
Sources
17 references
Project, pipeline and tender records are compiled from procurer announcements, lender disclosures and trade reporting; each project page carries its own source and the date it was last checked. Institutions are from the decision-maker directory. Economic and water indicators are cited on the reference profile.
- Sharakat (Saudi Water Partnership Company), company site, which states Ministry of Finance ownership; swpc.sa now redirects to it.
- Saudi Water Partnership Company, 7 Year Statement 2024–2030, 2024, which describes the company as the principal off-taker of water production, sewage treatment and strategic water storage.
- Sharakat, company portfolio, the individual project pages for structure, term, tariff and cost.
- Sharakat, pre-qualification programme for developers.
- MENA Water Review major projects register and PPP pipeline — compiled from procurer publications, development-bank project pages and trade reporting; each record names its source.
- Clifford Chance, “Issuance of the Private Sector Participation Law”, April 2021. A law-firm briefing, not the gazette.
- U.S.–Saudi Business Council, Saudi Arabia’s water sector, economic brief, February 2022.
- Kaufmann & Kraay, Worldwide Governance Indicators (World Bank), 2025 update: political-stability and regulatory-quality scores, 0–100, shown in the market snapshot. worldbank.org/wgi.
- Saudi Water Authority, About us.
- Arab News, “SWCC achieves record production capacity of desalinated water: report”, 13 July 2023, on the transfer of SWCC’s production, transport and storage assets to the Water Solutions Company.
- Smart Water Magazine, “SWPC announces results of the second edition of its pre-qualification program”, December 2025.
- Sharakat, contractor qualification initiative.
- Sharakat, supplier registration.
- Saudi Water Authority, local content.
- Sharakat, 7 Year Statement 2025–2031, March 2026.
- MEED, “Saudi Arabia awards $2.2bn water transmission contract”, March 2025.
- USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Saudi Arabia: Grain and Feed Annual, SA2025-0003, 2025.
Numbered references are linked from the superscript markers in the text. Figures without a marker come from the sources above as compiled in the site methodology.
Sources and notes
The six firms appearing most often on tracked awards in Saudi Arabia (19 firms appear on two or more). For a PPP, BOT, BOO or independent water, power or sewage project the winner counted is the developer or sponsor consortium; for an EPC or works contract it is the contractor. Each consortium member is counted on its own. EPC contractors working for a developer, subcontractors and equipment suppliers are not counted, and a PPP whose developer is not recorded counts for no firm.