[Saudi Arabia] AWPT Named Preferred Bidder for Jazan Small-Scale Sewage Treatment Plant Cluster Project: 12 Plants with 74,700 m³/d Capacity, 166 km Sewage Collection Network, BOOT Model with 25-Year Concession, Commercial Operation in Q4 2028

The Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) announced that Alkhorayef Water and Power Technologies (AWPT) has been selected as the preferred bidder for the Small Sewage Treatment Plant (SSTP) project in the Jazan region. The project includes 12 small sewage treatment plants with a total treatment capacity of 74,700 m³/d, along with approximately 166 km of main sewage collection network, adopting a BOOT model with a 25年 concession period, commencing from the fourth quarter of 2028年 (the expected commercial operation date), and is defined as Saudi Arabia's first project to integrate sewage treatment plants and sewage collection networks into the same PPP contract framework.

Packing twelve dispersed township sewage treatment plants and 166 kilometers of pipeline network into a single contract package — Saudi Arabia is using a new structure to solve the oldest problem in municipal water services: the plants are built, but the sewage cannot be collected.

According to a statement from the Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) and reports by Gulf Construction and Trade Arabia, after completing the private sector bid evaluation, Alkhorayef Water and Power Technologies (AWPT) has been confirmed as the preferred bidder for the Small Sewage Treatment Plant Project (SSTP) in the Jazan region.

Project Structure: A First in Plant-Network Integration

According to the details disclosed by SWPC, the core parameters of the project are as follows:

• Treatment facilities — 12 small sewage treatment plants;
• Total treatment capacity — 74,700 m³/d;
• Supporting pipeline network — approximately 166 km of main sewage collection network (Collection Network, CN);
• Delivery model — BOOT (Build—Own—Operate—Transfer);
• Concession period — 25年, commencing from the expected commercial operation date (COD) in the fourth quarter of 2028年.

What truly distinguishes this project from previous Saudi PPP packages is the last feature. SWPC explicitly defines it as Saudi Arabia's first project to integrate sewage treatment plants and sewage collection networks into the same PPP contract framework.

This is not a play on words. In traditional Saudi water privatization structures, pipeline networks are typically held by government agencies or tendered separately for construction, while treatment plants are bid out by the private sector under BOOT/BOT models. The result of this split is a typical "responsibility gap": treatment plant operators receive capacity payments based on design water volume, only to find that pipeline network coverage is insufficient and actual collected water volume is far below expectations; meanwhile, the network side bears no responsibility for effluent quality and reuse targets. When sewage cannot be collected, it is impossible to determine who is responsible.

After packing both into the same 25年 contract, the investor's returns directly depend on "how much sewage actually enters the treatment units and is discharged/reused in compliance," turning the collection rate from someone else's KPI into their own KPI.

The Fourfold Benefits Listed by SWPC

In its statement, SWPC listed four strategic objectives that this project aims to achieve:

• Maximizing the diverse reuse of reclaimed (treated) water — this has been a consistent core demand of Saudi Arabia's "2030 Vision" and the National Water Strategy; water-scarce Gulf countries regard reclaimed water as a strategic resource rather than a wastewater residual;
• Localization rate during the construction period of no less than 60% — the Local Content requirement has been a hard threshold for Saudi water PPPs in recent years, and a key lever for attracting local contractors and landing the industrial chain;
• Reducing the environmental impact of untreated sewage discharge — improving public health and quality of life;
• Supporting the upgrading of public services at the village and township level in the Jazan region — the project covers small, scattered treatment sites in townships rather than a single large municipal plant.

The fourth point deserves particular attention. In the past, international attention was often focused on giant projects on the scale of millions of cubic meters in Riyadh and Jeddah, whereas packages like Jazan turn their gaze toward decentralized, small-scale, clustered township sewage treatment scenarios — the individual contract value in such markets may not be large, but the number of sites is high, the contract terms are long, and the demand for modular, rapidly deployable equipment is extremely high.

AWPT's existing footprint: 200万 m³/d under O&M

AWPT confirmed this matter in its 2026年 second-quarter results briefing, and disclosed the considerable backlog the company has accumulated in recent years:

• From 2023年 to the end of the second quarter of 2026年, the company secured cumulative new privatization contracts exceeding 160亿 Saudi Riyals, plus 50亿 Riyals in O&M and EPC contracts;
• During the period, it obtained three long-term O&M contracts (Package 5, 6, 7), with a combined value exceeding 50亿 Riyals, covering multiple sewage treatment plants in Riyadh and Al-Ahsa, with a combined design treatment capacity exceeding 200万 m³/d, each with a contract term of 15年, covering design, rehabilitation works, testing and commissioning, and full operation and maintenance;
• AWPT stated that it will lead the full life cycle of the Jazan project in an integrated capacity as "developer + EPC contractor + O&M operator."

This set of data outlines that the competitive landscape of the Middle East water market is changing: the value of leading enterprises no longer depends solely on how much EPC engineering volume they can win, but on how many tens of thousands of cubic meters per day of long-term O&M cash flow they hold. A 15年 O&M asset at the level of two million cubic meters per day means revenue predictability, customer stickiness, and the accumulation of operational data, which in turn becomes a scoring advantage in the next round of bidding.

Implications for Chinese water enterprises

In recent years, international players including Chinese enterprises have frequently made moves in the Gulf market, and the structural innovation of the Jazan project brings at least three implications.

• Reconstruction of the contract unit — competitors need to possess integrated "plant + network" delivery capability; pure process package suppliers will be marginalized; in particular, pipeline network design and construction technology, leakage control, and trenchless rehabilitation will shift from supporting roles to core qualifications.
• Transformation of equipment form — 12 small sites mean that modular, containerized, replicable standard products are more competitive than customized engineering. This is a favorable position for enterprises skilled in standardized equipment manufacturing.
• Long-term O&M capability becomes a threshold — 25年 BOOT is not "build and leave"; the capital party's due diligence on O&M performance will extend to the team's localization, spare parts supply chain, and the real capabilities of the digital O&M platform.

In addition, the requirement that "the localization rate during the construction period be no less than 60%" essentially excludes the asset-light model of "complete equipment export + a small amount of local installation," forcing participants to establish local production capacity and supply chain layouts.

What it means for us: TIANYI TECH's judgment

TIANYI TECH has long monitored international water market dynamics and serves sewage treatment and reclaimed water reuse customers. We judge that "plant-network bundled" structures like Jazan may become a common template in the Middle East, North Africa, and even emerging markets in Southeast Asia in the future: their core logic is to compress the three originally separate assessment items of collection rate, effluent compliance rate, and reclaimed water reuse rate onto a single responsible entity, allowing the government to buy out all performance risks with one contract.

For water companies preparing to go global, this means three things must be done in advance: first, complete the technical and track record credentials on the pipeline network side, upgrading from "I can treat water" to "I can collect the water and reuse it to standard"; second, turn equipment into standardized products that can be replicated and delivered in batches, to adapt to decentralized deployment across multiple sites; third, establish a local operations and maintenance and data system capable of supporting 25年 contract performance. There is also a fact that cannot be ignored — local players need partners and localization ratios, and choosing the right local partner is often more important than the quotation.

About TIANYI TECH (TIANYI LIMITED): TIANYI TECH is deeply engaged in the fields of wastewater treatment and reclaimed water reuse, committed to providing efficient, low-carbon, and sustainable water treatment solutions for municipal and industrial clients.