DAMMAM, 27 October — Industry and Electricity Minister Dr. Hashem Al-Yamani has said that the first stage of the power grid linking Saudi Arabia with Qatar and Bahrain will be completed by 2006.
He was speaking at the graduation ceremony of Saudi Electric Company Training Institute here yesterday. He said work on the power grid picked up momentum after a special agency was set up in Dammam to oversee the project. Many organizations and institutions have offered financial help to undertake research and network planning, he added.
The idea of a common power grid was aired a long time ago but it concrete shape only last year at the GCC summit where Gulf Arab leaders agreed to work toward a common market, currency and power grid.
Dr. Yamani said the government has brought more than 7,000 villages under its electrification program. Electrification of all villages has been a top priority for the government, the minister said. He congratulated the new graduates and said the training program reflected SEC’s determination to Saudize all jobs.
Sa’ad Al-Mansour, managing director of SEC in the Eastern Province, said that 174 trainees graduated from the institute this year, 142 of them in industrial training and the rest in management. A total of 2,362 students have so far graduated from the institute in the Eastern province, he said.
