RIYADH: 海角直播鈥檚 $500-billion megaproject聽NEOM聽is negotiating with entities to invest $20 billion to develop its聽planned brine chemicals complex in聽the industrial city聽OXAGON, according to a report.
Citing a close source familiar with the matter, MEED reported that the development will be built in phases and require somewhere between $15 billion to $20 billion in investments.聽聽
According to the report, the chemicals complex aims to聽build industries and plants that convert brine, the main waste output of desalination, into industrial materials that can be used locally or exported internationally.聽
NEOM鈥檚 water and energy subsidiary ENOWA said the brine generated from聽the desalination plant will be treated to feed industries utilizing high-purity industrial salt, bromine, boron, potassium, gypsum, magnesium and rare metal feedstocks, the report added.
In September, ENOWA鈥檚 CEO Peter Terium, during an exclusive interview with Arab News on the sidelines of the Future Desalination International Conference held in Riyadh, said that聽NEOM聽will build a water desalination plant by 2024 to combat water scarcity.
鈥淚f you want to build a future land like聽NEOM, and you want to have liveability, green parks and food production, then you need water, and of all the beautiful things it has, water is not one of them,鈥 he said.
Terium added that the聽desalination project will be a benchmark in sustainability as it will be powered by 100 percent renewable energy.聽
In June, ENOWA signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan-based Itochu and French firm Veolia to develop a desalination plant powered by renewable energy in OXAGON.聽
According to ENOWA, the desalination plant will have a design capacity of 500,000 cubic meters a day and is expected to become operational by 2024.
NEOM聽is 海角直播鈥檚 most ambitious project, as the Kingdom eyes diversifying its economy in alignment with the goals outlined in Vision 2030. The construction of the project is progressing steadily in the Tabuk Province in north-western 海角直播, and upon completion, it is expected to become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Kingdom.聽聽
