Saudi Arabia will retender its power and water desalination project in Ras Azzour, expected to be the largest in the world, the Saline Water Conversion Corp said.

The plant will generate 2,400 MW of electricity and produce 1,025 million cu m of desalinated water to supply Saudi capital Riyadh. The tender deadline is March 20 with completion scheduled to take three years.

A company executive said in October the cost of the project would be 20-25 per cent below initial estimates, partly due to lower material prices.

The initial cost was estimated at $6 billion when Japan's Sumitomo Corporation was leading a consortium to build and operate the plant. Sumitomo said in May it had put on hold its consortium's plans for the plant.

The plant will meet the electricity needs of Saudi's Mining Company (Maaden) and Saudi Electricity Company (SEC).-Reuters