Kindasa Water Services (KWS), the first private Saudi company to specialise in the desalination of seawater and distribution of bulk potable water, is making moves to spread its wings and participate in the privatisation of the water and wastewater industries within the kingdom and abroad.

The decision follows the inauguration of a new desalination plant with a capacity of 25,500 cu m per day by the company in Jeddah, adding to its existing plant.
The new project, built at a cost of SR150 million ($40 million), includes the extension of the existing pipeline from Jeddah Islamic Port (JIP) to Jeddah Industrial City (JIC) Phase 2. Kindasa will supply water to the JIC network through the pipeline.
The plant’s capacity will be increased to 48,000 cu m per day by next year, says general manager Eng Fawzi Mohammed Adel Habhab.
The company also has plans to produce industrial water to fulfill the needs of specialised industries. “Production and supply of industrial water in bulk will start once the market demand increases and becomes cost effective,” he says.
The new desalination plant was designed by Weir Westgarth Ltd, now known as Veolia Water Systems Westgarth, and built by Weir Techna. The pipeline was built by Saudi Landscape and Contracting Company.
Kindasa has built a reputation for producing quality desalinated potable water in compliance with World Health Organisation (WHO) and Saudi Arabian Standards Organisation (Saso) standards. It supplies water to industries, residential compounds and government institutions.
Tracing the history of the company, Habhab says the name ‘Kindasa’ is derived from the first seawater desalination plant built in Jeddah in the early 19th century.
KWS is a limited liability company established in January 2000 by three leading Saudi business groups. They include:
Saudi Industrial Services Company (SISCO), one of the kingdom’s prominent companies with large investments in desalination plants, free zones, industrial estate development, Information Technology and other key projects in Saudi Arabia.
Mohamed Abdulatif Jameel Company (MALJC),  part of the Abdullatif Jameel Group (ALJG), a multibillion organisation with a range of activities and investments and the largest independent distributor of Toyota and Lexus vehicles in the world.
Bushnak Group of Companies, a regional pioneer which specialises in water desalination technology and offers support and services ranging from feasibility studies and development to operation and maintenance. 
The company’s first production started in October 2002 with a plant capacity of 14,000 cu m of water daily. The plant supplies water to Jeddah Industrial City (JIC) and the housing compounds around. Investment for the plant, including a 2 km pipeline up to water filling stations outside Jeddah Islamic Port (JIP) gate No. 9, was SR41.5 million ($ 11.1 million).
The first project involved the integration of a used desalination plant purchased from the City of Santa Barbara, US (built by Ionics) with Jeddah Islamic Port’s (JIP) existing desalination plant facilities and additional new plant equipment to make the seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant complete.
The plant is built inside mobile containers and installed on the roof of an existing JIP underground potable water storage tank. The plant utilises energy recovery turbine whereby the power consumption is reduced. The plant is designed to produce potable water with total dissolved salts (TDS) < 500 ppm and in compliance with WHO and SASO standards, he says.
Consultant for the desalination project was Dar Al Taqniya (DAT) and installation was carried out by Water & Environmental Services Company (Wesco). The consultant for the pipeline and the water filling station was Associated Consulting Engineers (ACE) and the contractor was Saad Trading & Contracting Company.
Kindasa distributes water inside JIP through the pipeline network and water tanker filling station. Water is also distributed to industries through a water filling station equipped with state-of-the-art water loading systems.
To ensure that it provides water of the best quality, Kindasa has installed a hybrid of conventional media filtration and ultra filtration after carrying out pilot studies for the expansion plant, says Habhab.
Kindasa has installed the SWRO desalination plant training simulation software in the expansion project so Saudis can be trained and certified as desalination operators, thereby helping in the development of Saudi nationals.
Kindasa was established with the vision to be the leading private sector supplier of bulk quality potable water at competitive and sustainable prices to industries and housing compounds, says Habhab. “We are proud of the fact that Kindasa has been able to contribute to Saudi Arabia’s water industry and has reduced the general water shortage in Jeddah by 10 per cent, with a focus on the industrial city requirement,” he concludes.