The UAE's biggest desalination plant, being built at Qadfa, Fujairah, will produce 100 million gallons of water per day. The plant will occupy an area of 175,000 square metres. A 400-metre long pipeline will feed seawater to the plant.

The project, which is expected to be completed by the middle of next year, will cost Dh4.6 billion, and will serve the Northern Emirates, Al Ain and Dhaid city.

As many as 1,500 workers and 50 engineers are working on the plant, the construction of which started two months ago.

A power station is being built next to it on 125,000 sq.m. The plant will have a capacity to produce 656 megawatts of power. Out of this 120mw will be consumed by the desalination station, 16mw for water pumping, and the remaining 500mw will go to the Northern Emirates via a proposed national power grid.

Dh2.955 billion of the total cost of the desalination station, will cover construction costs, while Dh1.663 billion will go into the design and construction of a 182-km long water pipeline to serve Al Ain.

The capacity of the pipeline will be 180 million gallons per day. Another 19-km long pipeline will be built to supply Dhaid city.

The first phase of the project will be financed by the Abu Dhabi government. A foreign partner will be invited to contribute 49 per cent of the total cost of the project for the other phases.

Some firms from Germany and South Korea are providing consultancy services.