Yesterday, the Ministry of Finance announced the companies entering the final stage of the tender for the construction of a desalination plant in the Western Galilee: IDE and the GES-Shafir Group.
The winner is expected to be announced in about eight months.
The tender for the construction of the seventh desalination plant in Israel, located north of Nahariya in the Western Galilee region, was published less than a year ago using the Public Private Partnership method.
The winner will be selected after the additional bidding process, and will be responsible for the financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the desalination facility, which will produce at least 100 million cubic meters of water per year.
The facility will enable the connection of the Western Galilee to the national water system, and will bring the total water production in the desalination facilities in Israel to about 895 million cubic meters per year, which will constitute about 90% of the total domestic and industrial consumption of fresh water in the economy.
This is the seventh seawater desalination facility located in Israel, and its output will be added to that supplied to the water economy from the five desalination facilities currently active in Ashkelon, Ashdod, Palmachim, Hadera and Sorek, which provide about 75% of total domestic and industrial fresh water consumption each year.
The construction of the sixth desalination facility, Soreq B, the largest of its kind in the world, with a production capacity of 200 million cubic meters per year, which is expected to start supplying water in 2023, is currently underway. The screen of consumption of fresh water in the economy will be provided by the seven desalination facilities, in a way that will enable the water economy to cope with the continuing deterioration in the state of the country’s natural water sources.
Yehezkel Lifshitz, deputy director of energy and water infrastructure at the Ministry of Energy, said: "The facility will make it possible to strengthen the water system in the north of the country, and will ensure residents a regular water supply for many years."