RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) has completed the longest water pipeline tunnel project in the world, with a diameter of 8.4 meters and a distance of 12.5 km. The tunnel will pump desalinated water from the Al-Shuaiba desalination plant on the Red Sea coast to the Taif governorate and the villages in its neighborhood as well as to the Al-Baha region, according to a report carried by Al-Arabiya net. The project aims to transport desalinated water to strategic reservoirs in Taif to meet the needs of the governorate and its southern villages up to the Al-Baha region. It took 19 months to implement the project from the start of excavation work at the bottom of Al-Hada Mountains to the Taif governorate, thus shortening the distance by more than 40 km. The daily drilling speed peaked to complete the tunnel project with solid rocks in the Sarawat Mountains, starting from the bottom of Jabal Al-Kurr in Wadi Numan and reaching the ring road in Taif governorate, penetrating 12.5 km with a diameter of 8.4 meters with a drilling machine considered to be the fastest of its kind and is used in global projects. The emirate of the Makkah region announced on its official Twitter account the completion of the project of digging the world’s longest tunnel to transport desalinated water, which was completed ahead of the schedule. SWWCC announced its readiness to receive water in the strategic storage in Taif, and the pumping station of the water distribution system connecting Taif, Turbah, Rania, and Al Khurmah, seeking to extend the project so that the desalinated water reaches the Al-Baha region in the third quarter of 2021.