Saudi Water Industry Localization Program Advances 6 Projects Worth 2.8 Billion Riyals
Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Water Authority said 6 investment opportunities in its Water Industries and Services Localization Program moved into the industrial implementation phase at a ceremony in Riyadh, marked by the signing of 3 new industrial localization agreements and the inauguration of 2 factories, together bringing total investment across the 6 opportunities to 2.8 billion riyals, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The 3 new agreements cover 5 of the 6 opportunities and provide for 7 new factories; the release did not name the 2 factories inaugurated under the sixth, already underway opportunity.
4 Companies, 7 Factories
The newly signed agreements are tied to 4 companies. Italmatch Chemicals will build 4 factories, in Wa’ad Al Shamal, Jubail and Jeddah, with the Wa’ad Al Shamal site set to become the company’s largest industrial complex outside Italy when production begins in 2028. Torishima will build a high pressure pump factory in Jeddah. Energy Recovery will build a factory for energy recovery devices in Dammam, the company’s only manufacturing site outside the United States, expected to supply about a third of its global customers starting in the first quarter of 2027. alfanar will build a factory in Riyadh to produce distributed control systems.
| Company | Product | Location | Factories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italmatch Chemicals | Water treatment chemicals | Wa’ad Al Shamal, Jubail, Jeddah | 4 |
| Torishima | High pressure pumps | Jeddah | 1 |
| Energy Recovery | Energy recovery devices | Dammam | 1 |
| alfanar | Distributed control systems | Riyadh | 1 |
The 4 companies’ new factories total 7. A fifth company, Toray, already operates a reverse osmosis membrane factory in Dammam, inaugurated on November 12, 2025 with investments exceeding 1 billion riyals and an annual capacity of 300,000 membranes, according to a separate Saudi Press Agency report, bringing the localization program’s total factory count to 8.
Local Content, Suppliers and a Proportional Program
The water sector’s local content ratio rose to 68.27 percent in the first half of 2026, up from 45 percent in 2020, according to the authority. On our calculation, that is a gain of 23.27 percentage points over roughly 6 years, or an average of about 3.9 percentage points a year. Over roughly the same period the sector’s supplier base grew to 3,441 suppliers in 2026 from 739 in 2022, on our calculation an increase of 365.6 percent, or to more than 4.6 times its 2022 size.
The 6 newly advanced opportunities are expected to contribute approximately 4.36 billion riyals to gross domestic product through 2033 and create 3,090 direct and indirect specialized engineering and technical jobs, the authority said. On our calculation, that 2.8 billion riyal investment represents about 25 percent of the wider 18 opportunity program’s roughly 11 billion riyal investment target for 2033, while the 3,090 jobs represent about 26 percent of the program’s roughly 12,000 job target, so the 6 opportunities average about 467 million riyals and 515 jobs each. The remaining 12 opportunities implied by those same program wide targets average about 683 million riyals and 743 jobs each, on our calculation, meaning the opportunities still to come are larger, on a per opportunity basis, than the 6 already in implementation.
Why it matters: The ceremony illustrates Saudi Arabia’s approach of converting guaranteed domestic demand for water infrastructure components into local manufacturing investment under the National Water Strategy and National Industrial Strategy. The Kingdom has already reached self sufficiency in locally produced reverse osmosis membranes and exports them to 27 countries, the authority said, a track record the new agreements aim to extend to pumps, control systems and energy recovery equipment.
Outlook: The 4 companies’ new factories are scheduled to begin production between 2027 and 2028. The wider 18 opportunity localization program’s targets, roughly 11 billion riyals in attracted investment and about 12,000 jobs, run through 2033.
Sources: Saudi Press Agency, Saudi Water Authority.
