ACWA Holding, Toyobo and ITOCHU From Japan Establish a new Company to Localize the Membrane Technology in Saudi Arabia Under the Patronage of H.E. the Minister of Water and Electricity

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, February 18, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — ACWA Holding,
Toyobo Co., Ltd. and ITOCHU Corporation have established a new company to
manufacture reverse osmosis membrane elements for seawater desalination on
Tuesday February 16th, 2010 under the patronage of H.E. Engineer Abdulah
Al-Hossein, the Minister of Water and Electricity. The signing ceremony was
held in the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh witnessed by a large number of
guests especially H.E. Dr. Khalid Al-Sulaiman the Deputy Minister of Commerce
and Industry for Industrial Affairs, H.E. Dr. Tawfig Alrabiah the Director
General of Saudi Industrial Property Authority (MODON).

The new company, named Arabian Japanese Membrane Company, will be the
first manufacturing facility in the whole Middle East and North Africa
region. Rabigh technical Park in the western region of Saudi Arabia, 150 KM
north of Jeddah on the Red Sea, will accommodate the manufacturing facility
with production scheduled to begin in March 2011 localizing the vital and the
latest technology from Toyobo.

The partners estimate the total investment in the next decade to be
around SAR 1,320 million (USD 350 million) in the Head Quarter and
manufacturing facility in Rabigh and a sales office in the capital Riyadh.
The company will manufacture Reverses Osmosis membrane elements for Seawater
desalination using Hollow fiber technology. The membranes manufactured will
supply potable water to Saudi Arabia, which is considered the largest country
in the world to utilize seawater desalination technology due to the scarcity
of natural water resources. Securing water resources is a particularly
paramount importance issue in Saudi Arabia, and this new company will
contribute to secure an integral part of potable water supply in Saudi Arabia.

The local partner, ACWA Holding, is a leading infrastructural developer
in the region, especially in the water and power sectors, having major
ownership in over 25 companies in this region. One of them had bid and won
four IWPP projects in Saudi Arabia. The Japanese partner in the new company,
Toyobo has over two decades of experience in sales and operations in the
seawater desalination business in Saudi Arabia. Toyobo famous membranes
technology is already utilized in most of the largest desalination plants in
the Middle East, including the Shuqaiq plant (212,000 m3 per day) and RAWEC
plant (216,000 m3 per day). Toyobo boasts 80% of the seawater desalination
membrane market in Saudi Arabia and over half the share in the Middle
East/Gulf region. Toyobo’s desalination elements utilize the principle of
Reverse Osmosis, by applying pressure greater than that of osmotic pressure
to allow water to permeate through the membrane while preventing ions from
passing through the membrane. The membrane is Hollow Fiber made from
Cellulose Triacetate, which is highly resistant to the residual chlorine,
used to prevent the growth of microorganisms. These elements have an
excellent track record in many plants in Japan and around the world.

The third partner ITOCHU has considerable experience building seawater
desalination plants in Saudi Arabia since 1970′s. Elsewhere from the
beginning of 1980′s, ITOCHU has been promoting Toyobo Seawater RO
Desalination Membranes in the Gulf Region. In addition, it has another
company with ACWA Holding in the desalination plant construction and
engineering.

    Bander Alhassan
    GloCal Communication Group
    M :+966-555-222636
    Tel : +966-1-4811997
    email : bander@glocalksa.com

SOURCE ACWA Holding