A consortium of Saudi utilities provider Marafiq, the regional business of France’s Veolia and Bahrain/Saudi Arabia-based Lamar Holding has won a $500m (SR1.875bn) contract to develop an industrial wastewater treatment plant (IWWTP) in Jubail Industrial City 2, located in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

Saudi Aramco Total Refining & Petrochemical Company (Satorp), a joint venture of Saudi Aramco and France’s TotalEnergies, has awarded the 30-year concession agreement to the consortium for developing the IWWTP. The planned facility will treat and recycle wastewater from Satorp’s under-construction Amiral chemical derivatives complex, also in Jubail.

Marafiq, formally Power & Water Utility Company for Jubail and Yanbu, will own a 40% stake in the dedicated project company. Veolia Middle East SAS will hold a 35% stake, and Lamar Holding’s Lamar Arabia for Energy will hold the other 25%.

The planned IWWTP, which will primarily serve the $11bn sprawling Amiral chemicals zone, will implement advanced water treatment and recovery technologies to process complex industrial effluents, including spent caustic streams. Treated water will be reintegrated into the industrial processes, supporting closed-loop reuse and energy efficiency.

The project follows a concession-style model, akin to a public-private partnership (PPP), where the developer consortium invests in, builds and operates the wastewater plant over a 30-year period, with returns linked to service delivery.

Marafiq has been involved in several similar projects across Saudi Arabia, including as the sole owner of the Jubail industrial water treatment plant (IWTP8), which treats complex industrial effluents for petrochemical and heavy industrial companies.

In 2020, Saudi Services for Electro Mechanic Works was awarded the $202m main contract for the fourth expansion phase of IWTP8. Construction works on the project are expected to be completed by the end of this year.