المملكة: Certified contractors … new requirements for linking the plans with water

The Saudi Water Authority offered the rules for delivering water and sanitation services to approved plans and development projects, through a reconnaissance platform with the aim of setting controls, requirements and organizational, technical and financial requirements that determine the obligations of the service provider and the service student towards the mechanisms of delivering water and sanitation services.
The rules stipulated that the applicant obligate his application through the approved official channels, whether electronic or paper, with a full commitment to conclude the receipt agreement before any actual implementation within the plan.
The agreement, according to an attached organizational attachment, is determined by the responsibilities and obligations of the parties, in addition to the pricing mechanism mentioned in an independent financial attachment.
The authority stressed the importance of prior coordination with the service provider, warning against implementing any facility or network without official approval, while all the work is required by accredited contractors and consultants.

Authority’s requirements

One of the most prominent of the draft was the requirement of the authority not to receive any water network or sanitation by the service provider unless it is completely connected to public networks or treatment means.
The applicant is prohibited from dividing the project implementation in stages except with prior approval, while providing designs that allow partial partial operation to the executing areas.
To ensure transparency, the service applicant is entitled to obtain an initial offer for the costs of the carrier lines and the expected timetable for its arrival, after paying the scheduled financial compensation.

Distribution of responsibilities

A clear difference that the authority distinguished between open and closed plans. In the first, the ownership of water and drainage facilities is owned by the service provider who takes over operation and maintenance.
In closed plans, the operator is determined based on criteria adopted by the authority later.
The rules also gave an exclusive reference to the authority to explain its items, which enhances its organizational centralization and cuts the way to the various interpretations that may hinder implementation.

Oversight of networks

The fifth article touched on the plans related to the public network, where the applicant bears the responsibility of design, implementation and supervision of networks and its facilities, including treated water tanks, and is obligated to bear the cost of linking to the public network, provided that the service provider takes over the receipt and final operation.
As for the sixth article, the unrelated plans summarized, explaining that the service provider studies the mechanism of linking at the expense of the applicant, and this includes the design and implementation of the carrier lines, lifting or pumping stations and tanks if necessary. The developer is required to adhere to all approved technical standards.

Specific specifications

The rules did not neglect the delivery of services to the buildings, as Article Seven confirmed that the service applicant is obligated to implement connections from networks to the borders of the buildings, whether they are existing or under construction during the implementation of the infrastructure.
The requirements also included the necessity of installing meters and linking according to the specifications specified by the service provider.

Initial and final accreditation

The authority divided the credit procedures into two stages, primary and final. In the first stage, the applicant must submit comprehensive documents that include the owner’s and scheme’s data and its location, as well as contracting with an accredited engineering office and authorizing the designer consultant.
The service provider shall within 15 days of receiving the request to verify the data and study it, then provide the service applicant with the list of technical obligations, specifications, names of the accredited contractors and consultants, in preparation for the signing of the official receipt agreement.

The accuracy of design

In the final stage, the applicant is obligated to provide a study on water need and drainage rates, then determine the appropriate connection points. The service provider is given a 15 -day period for review and accreditation, after which the link proposal is prepared.
Hence, the applicant must provide designs and materials within 90 days, and they are reviewed and approved within a period not exceeding 20 working days. The rules also include requirements for the continuity of the effectiveness of designs and plans if the implementation is late, which means the need to re -study and pay the fees again.
The commission obliges the applicant to start the implementation of the infrastructure within a year from the date of the approval of the plans, while obliging him to update the contractor and consultant data if the period exceeds the period.