ACCIONA, the leading water contractor in Saudi Arabia, attended the Saudi-Spanish Investment forum in Riyadh on June 5th and reiterated its commitment to provide new sources of safe drinking water to increase the country’s water security.
Julio de la Rosa, Business Development Director for ACCIONA Water solutions in the Middle East, took part in a panel discussion on “Water Management and Infrastructure”, in which he highlighted ACCIONA’s capabilities to advance the country’s Vision 2030 goal of creating a vibrant, more diversified and more sustainable economy and society.
The Saudi-Spanish investment forum, organized by the Saudi Ministry of Investment, discussed how to share knowledge and contribute to the Kingdom’s economic diversification plans. The event was attended by Spain’s Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, María Reyes Maroto, by the Saudi Minister of Investment, Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, Minister of Tourism, Ahmed Bin Aqil al-Khatib and the Minister of Commerce, Majid bin Abdullah Alkassabi.
ACCIONA was represented at the forum by Jesús Sancho, ACCIONA Director General for the Middle East, Francisco Javier Nieto, KSA Country Director for ACCIONA Water solutions, and Julio de la Rosa, Business Development Director for ACCIONA Water solutions in the Middle East.
The forum concluded that Spanish water and utilities companies can help the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 programs and goals since both share the challenge of providing quality water to the population while working on an environment of limited natural resources to do so.
ACCIONA, a global provider of sustainable infrastructure solutions, has delivered two desalination plants and is currently building four more desalination plants in the KSA. The plants employ reverse osmosis, a more efficient and sustainable technology for extracting potable water from seawater. Once all are completed, the plants will produce 2.36 billion liters of drinking water a day, enough to supply more than 8 million people, almost one-quarter of the population of the country. ACCIONA is also helping to reduce the carbon emissions associated with the energy for desalination by integrating solar energy at desalination plants.