#SaudiArabia Plans Spate of Water Project Privatizations in 2019 - Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia Plans Spate of Water Project Privatizations in 2019 - Bloomberg:

Saudi Arabia plans to tender or award six water-related projects in 2019 as it pushes ahead with a privatization program that got off to a slow start.

The cabinet recently approved the tendering of seven desalination and wastewater projects. One was awarded this week, three are in various stages of tender process and three more will be offered to investors next year, the government’s National Center for Privatization and PPP said in a statement.

So far, more than 40 percent of the bids have come from international companies relying heavily on financing from international banks, the center said. It didn’t provide details on the monetary value of the water projects, but said the total value of all public-private partnerships to be tendered by 2020 is expected to be 24 billion to 28 billion riyals ($6.4 billion to $7.5 billion).