TAQA will be the leader for the operations and maintenance (O&M) activities through a special private O&M company, with a part ownership shared with Vision Invest
Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PSJC (TAQA) is one of the biggest integrated utility companies in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It has proudly announced its participation in winning the Junarah Independent Strategic Water Reservoir Project (ISWR-1) partnership in Saudi Arabia’s Makkah.
This partnership will also include the Vision International Investment Company (Vision Invest) and Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC), who have signed the project agreements with the owner Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC).
GIC is a major investor in infrastructure projects and will continue to play a major role in the development of utility projects in the GCC, said Meshary Al-Judaimi, Group Head of Principal Investment at GIC. He added that the partnership for the Junarah ISWR-1 project reaffirms the GIC’s role in helping the private sector participate in the development of GCC economies.
The Junarah ISWR-1 Project is one of its kind in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under a BOOT (Build, Own, Operate, Transfer) model. This facilitates active private sector partnership in important water infrastructure development. The total cost of the project is approximately AED 1.5 billion, out of which 80% is to be financed through debt raising.
TAQA will be the leader for the operations and maintenance (O&M) activities through a special private O&M company, with a part ownership shared with Vision Invest. TAQA will have a 35% stake in the project management company and a 50% stake in the O&M company.
As per the mentioned terms and conditions of the project, the association is liable to build, own, and operate the water reservoir infrastructure for 30 years and, after the successful completion of the tenure, hand over the ownership to SWPC.
To put down the agreement in history books, the signing ceremony was held in the presence of His Excellency Abdulrahman Al-Fadley, the Minister of Environment, Water, and Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The main objective of the project is to cater to the needs of emergency municipal water demand for all the regions of the Kingdom and especially to meet the peak demand of the Hajj pilgrimage season held in Makkah and Madinah.
The total storage capacity of the strategic tanks is 2,000,000 cubic metres. Additional operational tanks with a capacity of 500,000 cubic metres will be constructed under a DBT (Design, Built, Transfer) model to aid the need for a potable water distribution system.
This project stands as a colloquy to the combined efforts of Vision Invest, Gulf Investment Corporation G.S.C, and TAQA. The association aims to provide on-time and reliable water supply for the region throughout the year, with the inclusion of cutting-edge technology and environmentally friendly practices.
TAQA’s Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Jasim Husain Thabet, comments on the signing of the project that they are honoured to be a part of the project, which will contribute to the development of the water infrastructure in the holy city of Makkah.
Engineer Khalid Al-Quraishi, CEO of the Saudi Water Partnership Company, said that this is a unique project on the soil of Saudi Arabia done with the partnership of the private sector. The project will operate under the BOOT system and will commence its commercial operations in the second quarter of 2027.
He added that the project will include solar energy units to help reduce the consumption of electrical energy and attain 100% availability of stored water. The project will minimise its operating costs by focusing on localisation in business and human resources.
TAQA has plans to expand the Transmission and Distribution (T&D) business globally. The Junarah project is their fourth (T&D) project outside the UAE. They have signed an MoU to possibly become a shareholder in a 900 km high voltage direct current electricity interconnector project between Greece and Cyprus.