Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Eng. Abdulrahman al-Fadhli announced the establishment of nine water desalination plants using modern techniques on the Red Sea coast to “improve the quality of water services.” “I would like to thank the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince for issuing the generous directive to build nine desalination plants with modern technologies on the Red Sea coast for a value of more than two billion riyals ($533 million),” Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Meteorology and Environment Protection said. He pointed out that they will be completed in less than 18 months with the capacity of 240,000 cubic meters per day. The project will help government-owned Saudi Saline Water Conversion Corp. (SWCC) raise production efficiency and cut operating and capital costs, Fadhli said. He added that these stations will have a significant impact on improving the quality and coverage of water services to achieve the objectives of the National Transformation Program 2020. The company will achieve a record of adding 1.4 million cubic meters of desalinated water in 13 months, equivalent to a new desalination plant worth 13 billion riyals ($3.4 billion) without additional capital costs, Fadhli stressed. He inspected Sunday the new building of the General Authority for Meteorology and Environmental Protection in Jeddah. He also reviewed the analysis and forecasting center, the readiness of modern meteorological techniques, radars, meteorological and satellite stations and the tasks performed by the Department in presenting the forecasts and warnings sent to the beneficiaries and the public according to the plans prepared and agreed upon with the relevant parties. Fadhli reviewed the work of the authority’s 17 initiatives, related to the National Transformation Program 2020, that were launched last month and focus on increasing the efficiency of the processes and mechanisms of accreditation, environmental licensing and periodic environmental inspection to monitor fuel and service stations, control drainage from the source and establish a central air quality control unit and emissions from the source.