National Water Co., the biggest water supplier in oil-rich Saudi Arabia , plans to build a 1.8 billion-riyal ($480 million) storage facility in its desert capital Riyadh. The 4.6 million-cubic-meter storage facility is part of the first phase of a project to “achieve a sustainable and secure water supply and meet the challenges of providing water-sector services” in the kingdom’s largest city, the state-owned company said today in an e-mail. The second phase of the biggest Saudi water-storage project will add 6 million cubic meters more of capacity at a cost of 2.6 billion riyals to serve the city’s 5 million residents. Chief Executive Officer Luay Al Musallam said last year that the Saudi state projects are part of a 51 billion-riyal water-resources investment in cities including Riyadh , Mecca and the port of Jeddah . This year alone, the government has allocated 16.6 billion riyals for desalination projects […]