Saudi Arabia is set to build nine desalination plants on the Red Sea coast at an investment of more than SR2 billion ($530 million), said a report.

The plants will have capacity of 240,000 cu m of water per day and will be completed in less than 18 months, reported The Saudi Gazette citing Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli.

The project, which the minister said was ordered by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman in a royal decree, will help government-owned Saudi Saline Water Conversion Corp (SWCC) raise production efficiency and cut operating and capital costs, stated Fadhli.

The Kingdom is the largest producer of desalinated water in the world.

According to SWCC, the Kingdom has raised its desalinated water production to five million cubic meters per day (m3/d) at the end of 2017.