SHARAKAT received five bids on 28 September 2026 for the Riyadh East sewage treatment plant, a 200,000 m³-a-day concession with commercial operation targeted for 2030. It joins a queue of privately financed plants: Al-Haer is under construction and Riyadh North awaits its tender.
Al-Haer sets the template
Al-Haer reached financial close on 7 February 2025 as a 25-year build-own-operate-transfer deal for 200,000 m³ a day, with a 32 km effluent line able to carry 400,000 m³ a day. SHARAKAT puts the investment at SAR 1.8 billion; the Miahona and Marafiq disclosure gives SAR 1.5 billion. In April 2026 SHARAKAT said it was on track for commercial operation by end-2026; the contractor's February 2025 award report gave Q3 2027.
A crowded field for Riyadh East
The five consortia include Miahona with Marafiq, GS Inima with Alkhorayef, Metito, Suez, and Lamar with China Harbour. MEED estimates the project at about US$150 million. Capacity can rise to 400,000 m³ a day on SHARAKAT's figures, or to 500,000 m³ a day on MEED's.
Riyadh North and the operators' market
Riyadh North, a 120,000 m³-a-day plant, was expected to go to tender in Q3 2026, but no notice had appeared by 7 November 2026. In October 2026 the National Water Company also tendered LTOM16, its Central Cluster operations package, which covered 14 plants and 153,000 m³ a day under its original scope. Bids are due on 3 May 2027.
The largest deal is not a sewage plant
The Riyadh–Qassim transmission pipeline, estimated at about US$2 billion, named its preferred bidder in December 2025 but had announced no financial close by 7 November 2026.
What the National Water Company's Central Cluster rounds of about SAR 4.6 billion funded, how the state covers the tariff deficit and which contract dates matter to 2030 are set out in the full report. The full report, Water Infrastructure Investment and Project Pipeline in Riyadh, is available for USD 249. For a free overview, see Riyadh City Snapshot.