Who Was Who at SWPF 2009?

Samer Mazloum, deputy general manager, WETICO
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The Saudi water sector is a strategic sector for Saudi Arabia’s development, and it is not only one of the fastest growing sectors in the Kingdom, but also in the GCC region.

Aggreko
Phil Burns, managing director of Aggreko Middle East

Why are you exhibiting at SWPF this year?
I suppose, looking at it logically, there’s a lot of excellent contractors and service providers in this sector who look at Saudi Arabia as their biggest market. Dubai has obviously wound down a little bit and it’ll be good for the Kingdom, through SWPF, to expose the amount of opportunities it has going forward.

We’re interested in meeting companies that have the same mindset as us, and also to listen to the leaders of the country and big businesses there to understand what sort of services they want going forward, and what development plans they have.

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What are the major challenges facing the market?
Definitely the constant expansion and growth in demand.

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It’s tough to physically keep up with increase in demand year-on-year. When you build a power station, you need to order turbines years in advance. It can take years for a power station to come online.

So it’s all about managing the expectations and the development and understanding the demand going forward. By the time power stations come online, they’re already behind and experiencing a shortfall in power – it’s a vicious circle.

Emerson Process Management
Alan Baird, marketing director

Which projects are you working on in Saudi Arabia?
We’re currently working with SWCC, and also with SEC, at Shuweiba, in Riyadh and in Yanbu, all major IWPP projects. But we also work on other smaller projects as well.

Why are you exhibiting at SWPF 2009?
Saudi Arabia is a really important market for us. Over the past six years, we’ve developed a number of staging areas, and we’ve built up our own office, based in Al Khobar, and employ around 70 people there, many of whom are Saudis.

We’re also opening up a valve-assembly and systems-staging area in conjunction with Saudi Valve Controls in Jubail. That’s a huge project and should be opening up at the end of October.

What are the major challenges in the Saudi market?
The biggest challenge is that the utilities market should be expanding. But with the downturn in the market, everyone’s cutting back on spending. But power and water are still crucial, regardless of whether companies are scared to spend.

So we applaud the government’s plans to step in with financing because at the end of the day, power and water are not just for industry, they are for the people as well.

Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies
Dion Tenhorn, managing director, Saudi operations

What are you working on in KSA?
Most of the projects we are working on are construction projects. One of them is the King Saud University in Riyadh, where we are implementing brand new technologies for sewage treatment.

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