L&T, Spanish partner bag $500-million desalination project in Saudi Arabia
Indian engineering & construction giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has bagged a $500 million-odd desalination project in Saudi Arabia through a joint venture with Lantania of Spain.
The L&T-Lantania alliance has been selected by ACWA Power to be the turnkey contractor and develop a 300,000 m3/day desalination plant in Ras Mohaisen, on the Red Sea Coast, along with all the associated infrastructure and facilities.
The project’s scope includes design, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning of a seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant.
It also encompasses intake and outfall facilities, process units, pumping stations, 600,000 cubic meters potable water storage facility, electrical special facility and associated works along with state-of-the-art automation and instrumentation systems. A Solar PV plant is also part of the project scope.
The plant will serve as a drinking water source for Makkah Al-Mukarramah and Al-Baha regions, benefiting about one million population.
L&T will be the lead partner in the project, which is located 300 kilometers south of Mecca, in the western province of Saudi Arabia.
This is the second desalination order that L&T’s water & effluent treatment (WET) business has received in Saudi Arabia in the recent past and it further strengthens the company’s presence in the Middle East region. This large order underscores L&T’s resolve to expand its regional footprint across all neighboring and business-conducive geographies, saidn an official statement.
The project stands out for its significant storage capacity, as it includes the construction of four desalinated water tanks with a total capacity of 600,000 m3, which will allow the plant to have the equivalent of two days of operation in reserve. Additionally, a new 132/33 kV electrical substation with associated overhead transmission line and a 30 MW solar PV plant, enhancing the facility’s sustainability, will be provided as part of project scope.
With this contract, Lantania also strengthens its presence in Saudi Arabia. The Spanish had recently signed an agreement with NEOM for the construction of a biosolids treatment plant in Al Badaa.
In 2023, the company completed construction of the Jubail 3A desalination plant, one of the largest reverse osmosis seawater desalination plants in the world, which generates 600,000 m3/day of drinking water. A facility that stands out for its efficient and sustainable design, achieving a world record for energy efficiency with consumption of less than 2.8 kWh m3/day using seawater from the Persian Gulf.
Lantania has also carried out the design, supply of equipment and commissioning of a wastewater treatment plant for the Red Sea project, which is developing a tourist city on the west coast of Saudi Arabia. The facility has the capacity to treat 16,000 m3/day of wastewater through a lagoon with a surface area of 46 hectares of artificial wetlands that guarantee an adequate amount of water for irrigation, an official statement said.
While L&T does not specify the exact project size, it has classified this contract in the Rs 2500-5000 crore (large) category.
