In August 2017, Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House) reported that the Saudi Water and Electricity Company (WEC) had invited expressions of interest for the Rabigh 3 reverse osmosis project north of Jeddah. It sought a developer or consortium to finance, build and run a 600,000 m³/day plant, expandable to 1.2 million m³/day, under a 25-year supply contract with state-backed payments. Submissions were due by 21 August 2017, with prequalification in September. Advisers included Banque Saudi Fransi, Alderbrook Finance, DLA Piper Middle East and Fichtner.
The report showed Saudi Arabia procuring very large seawater desalination capacity as an independent water project, combining private capital with state-guaranteed payments.