In arid regions like the Middle East, efficient conversion of seawater into fresh water is a prerequisite to development. For this reason, from the very outset the Kingdom's development plans placed great emphasis on the establishment of desalination plants in the water resources development policy. Consequently, the Kingdom now leads the world in desalination facilities. Almabani is a major player in the construction of desalination facilities, with several projects under its belt. The company installed, commissioned and operated a desalination plant to provide 500 cubic meters of fresh water per day for the Jeddah Port Authority. At Rabigh, a complete program was undertaken in a joint venture with ltalimpianti, which included construction of a 2-megawatt power station, a water intake system, two evaporator units, a powerhouse, testing laboratory, as well as administration building and apartments for the plant personnel. The plant has a capacity of 1100 cubic meters per day. Almabani and Hitachi-Zosen were partners in the US $400 million AI-Khobar Power & Desalination Plant Lot I B project- a desalination plant with a capacity of 280,000 cubic meters, by way of eight "Multi Stage Flash" (MSF) desalination units.