JAKARTA: Saudi utility developer Acwa has announced that it will set up a $400 million integrated facility for seawater desalination and salt production in Indonesia’s East Java, with Jakarta eyeing tech upgrades and knowledge transfer through its latest collaboration with the Kingdom.
Acwa and Indonesia’s state-owned salt company Garam signed a joint development agreement in Jakarta on Wednesday, under which they will build a seawater reverse-osmosis plant combined with a salt production line in the industrial area of Manyar, Gresik.
The facility is expected to produce around 62,500 cubic meters of desalinated water per day and 500,000 tonnes of high-purity industrial salt annually.
The agreement “strengthens Indonesia’s efforts to reinforce water security and achieve self-sufficiency for industrial salt,” Rosan Roeslani, Indonesia’s investment minister and CEO of sovereign wealth fund Danantara, wrote on social media after attending the signing ceremony.
Indonesia imports around 2.5 million tonnes of industrial salt every year, while demand stands at about 5 million tonnes per year and is expected to increase.
“This enables Indonesia to increase salt-production capacity while also building an industrial ecosystem that integrates desalination technology, industrial salt production, energy efficiency, and the potential for developing other marine minerals,” said Garam’s president director Abraham Mose. “Technology and knowledge transfer are central to this collaboration, and our aim is to ensure that Indonesia has world-scale production facilities alongside the workforce capable of operating and developing them sustainably.”
Acwa is among the world’s largest private water desalination companies. Under the new deal, it will contribute its experience in desalination project development, technology selection, technical design, financing structure, engineering, procurement, and construction, as well as long-term operations and maintenance, the Saudi company said in a statement.
“Indonesia is an important growth market for Acwa, and this agreement represents another step in our commitment to supporting the country’s long-term water and industrial needs,” Acwa CEO Dr. Samir J. Sehan said.
“By combining our expertise in large-scale seawater desalination with the production of high-purity industrial salt, we have an opportunity to deliver an integrated solution that strengthens water security while supporting Indonesia’s ambition to increase domestic salt production.”
The latest Saudi-Indonesia cooperation comes a little over a week after the two countries signed an agreement to promote direct investment and facilitate cross-border capital flows, as Jakarta seeks to attract more Saudi companies to its strategic sectors.
