Saudi Arabia to build world's largest water desalination station

Saudi Arabia is going to build the world's largest water desalination plant that can produce 600,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day by 2018, Al Hayat newspaper reported Tuesday.

The plant will be built in Rabigh area and will supply water to north Jeddah, Mecca and Taif. Its construction will start early next year, Mohammed Al Thibiti, general manager of the General Organization for Water Desalination, told the newspaper, without disclosing the project's cost.

"We are dedicated to building the station as schedule to meet current and future demands of desalinated water in the Kingdom," Al Thibiti said, adding that the current station that supplies to the area produces 18,000 cubic meters of tap water daily.