A team of India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Madrid-headquartered Lantania has won the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Ras Mohaisen independent water project (IWP) in Saudi Arabia.

State utility offtaker Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) signed the water-purchase agreement contract for the project with a consortium comprising Riyadh-headquartered utility developer Acwa Power, Hajj Abdullah Ali Reza & Partners and Al-Kifah Holding Company in February.

According to L&T, its Water and Effluent Treatment business division will execute the EPC contract for the desalination facility.

The state water offtaker received two bids for the contract in April last year. The other bidder was Spain’s Acciona.

The Ras Mohaisen IWP will be able to treat 300,000 cubic metres of seawater a day (cm/d) using reverse osmosis technology.

It will also include storage tanks with a capacity of 600,000 cubic metres, equivalent to two operating days, intake and outfall facilities, process units and pumping stations.

The build, own and operate project will also include electrical, automation and instrumentation systems and a solar photovoltaic plant.

The project is expected to reach commercial operation by the second quarter of 2028.

The plant will be located in Al-Qunfudhah Governorate, about 300 kilometres south of Mecca, on the Red Sea coast in Saudi Arabia’s Western Region.

The project is expected to enhance water supply chains and is intended to serve the Mecca and Al-Baha regions.

Netherlands-headquartered KPMG acted as SWPC’s financial adviser, with UK-based Eversheds Sutherland acting as the legal adviser for the project.