JEDDAH, 16 June 2005 — The regular general assembly of Power and Water Utility Company for Jubail and Yanbu (Marafiq) reviewed yesterday the company’s performance report for the years 2003 and 2004. The assembly, headed by the chairman of the board of directors Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Thunayan, approved several matters including the final accounts and audit report as well as payment of a five percent dividend from the paid capital of SR125 million for the two financial years.
The Prince informed the assembly of the updates on the electricity and water production plant project (IWPP) under construction in Jubail Industrial with a planned production capacity of 2500 megawatts and 800,000 cubic meters of drinking water daily to meet the demand of industries for electricity and water.
The assembly also reviewed the positive results of safety records, comprehensive quality program, environment protection and its efforts in recruiting Saudi work force and training them reaching 66 percent in the past two years. This qualified it to receive the Prince Naif award for Saudization achieving first place Kingdomwide in the electricity and cement sector for the years 2001 and 2002 for providing more than 12,000 administrative and technical training opportunities.
Prince Saud also showed that the company has implemented several techniques that improved its performance and increased its productivity. Its profits reached SR957.8 million for the years 2003 and 2004. The Prince indicated that there are plans to put the company for an IPO early 2006. He pointed to the support the company receives from the various government administrations — Ministry of Finance, General Investment Fund, Royal Commission, Ministry of Petroleum, Electricity Regulation Commission and Aramco — in preparing it to be the first outcome of privatization in the electricity and water in Saudi Arabia.