Aden.. Start of implementation of seawater desalination project with Saudi funding

Minister of Water and Environment, Eng. Tawfiq Al-Sharjabi, announced on Thursday the start of work on implementing a seawater desalination project in the city of Aden with a capacity of 10,000 cubic meters per day, funded by the Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction of Yemen.

This came in his speech during a symposium entitled (Water Desalination in Aden and Coastal Areas... A Possible Way to Confront the Drinking Water Crisis), which was organized by the Dutch Embassy in Yemen, via video call, according to the Yemeni News Agency "Saba".

Al-Sharjabi confirmed that the Saudi program engineers had arrived in Aden to begin handing over the site to implement the project, which "is the first phase within the government's implementation of a coordinated roadmap for localizing seawater desalination, based on technical, financial and institutional foundations and in accordance with a gradual approach."

He explained that the approach begins with providing water to the industrial sector, then expands to include residential and public needs, until achieving a production capacity of 170,000 cubic metres per day in the coming years.

The project commenced after the Saudi Program signed the project agreement with Emaar Saudi Development and Investment Company, the implementing agency. The Minister of Water and Environment appreciated the support provided by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Yemen in the water and environment sectors.

Al-Sharjabi stressed the importance of supporting all international partners and donor institutions for the Yemeni government’s efforts to develop the water desalination sector, through providing funding, technology transfer, and capacity building, to ensure the success of these projects.

He pointed out that these projects will clearly and directly contribute to alleviating the suffering of the Yemeni people and will address the needs of citizens through the implementation of projects that provide urgent and sustainable solutions.

For his part, the Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed Al Jaber, renewed the Kingdom's keenness to support the government's efforts to alleviate the severity of humanitarian crises, stressing the continuation of the work of the Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction of Yemen with the Ministry of Water and Environment to enhance water security and environmental governance according to a shared and integrated vision based on sustainability and operational efficiency.

In turn, the Dutch Ambassador, Janet Sabine, confirmed her country's continued support for the water and environment sectors in Yemen, noting that capacity building, water sector governance and water desalination top the priorities of Dutch support programmes, especially in Aden Governorate, which represents a model for the water challenges facing Yemen.

The symposium discussed the severe water crisis facing the city of Aden and coastal cities as a result of the excessive extraction of groundwater and surface water, the deterioration of its quality, and the high salinity, in light of the rapid population growth and the increasing number of displaced persons.

She also discussed the effects of climate change that are exacerbating the crisis, and the importance of desalination as one of the most realistic and effective options to ensure water security for the city and coastal areas.