"It represents 50% of water supplied from other desal plants to Riyadh," the minister said, adding that Ras Al-Khair would resolve the capital city's water shortage.
The Ras Al-Khair plant will also pump 100,000 cubic meters of water to Sudair, Zulfi, Washm, Alghat and Majmaa.
Meanwhile, Ali Al-Barrak, CEO of Saudi Electricity Company, said the linkage of Saudi Arabia with a power grid would be completed by the year 2017.
The minister said thermal insulation would be made compulsory for all residential buildings to reduce power consumption by 40 percent.