Saudi Arabia is planning to build nine desalination plants for more than SAR2bn (USD530mn) on the Red Sea coast, its Environment Minister, Abdulrahman al-Fadhli, said Sunday. The plants will have capacity of 240,000 cubic metres of water per day and will be completed in less than 18 months, al-Fadhli wrote in a Twitter post. The project, which the Minister said was ordered by King Salman in a royal decree, will help government-owned Saudi Saline Water Conversion Corp (SWCC) raise production efficiency and cut operating and capital costs, al-Fadhli added.