The joint development agreement (JDA) for a project to develop a zero liquid discharge plant in Saudi Arabia's NEOM has expired and has not been renewed, leading to the cancellation of the project, sources familiar with the scheme tell MEED.

A consortium of NEOM subsidiary Enowa, Japan’s Itochu and France’s Veolia signed a JDA for the scheme in December 2022, approximately six months after they signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the renewable-energy powered advanced seawater reverse osmosis project in OXAGON, NEOM’s industrial cluster.

This project was aimed at delivering up to 2 million cubic meters a day of desalinated water to NEOM, equivalent to about 30% of the gigaproject’s expected total water demand once complete. The developer team shared earlier that the target operation date for the project’s first phase was 2025, with a capacity of 500,000 cm/d.

With no construction phases in place, there is certainly no current need for a nearly $2 billion desalination plant, and this marks the first time NEOM has actually canceled a project. The teams will perhaps focus on developing a smaller desalination plant in the future. 

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