JEDDAH, 14 May 2005 — Some 20,000 Saudi contractors will be given a presentation on future electricity projects worth billions of riyals during a meeting organized by Saudi Electricity Company at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) tomorrow. “Strategic partnership for a fruitful work” is the title of Sunday’s meeting, which aims at giving contractors an idea of new investment opportunities in the electricity sector and the standard and quality of work expected from them.
According to a recent study, Saudi Arabia requires SR430 billion ($115 billion) during the next 23 years to set up new power generation projects. The Kingdom’s existing capacity is put at 23,400 megawatts, and it needs an additional 20,000 MW by the year 2010.
Nasser ibn Muhammad Almotawae, chairman of the contractors committee at the Riyadh chamber, said the Saudi private sector is capable of carrying out giant projects. “During the past years, it has achieved a lot of experience,” he added.
Almotawae said the contribution of the contracting sector to the gross domestic product (GDP) would reach SR64 billion ($17 billion) by the end of this year. The sector makes an annual growth of 6.17 percent, he pointed out.
He said the contracting sector contributes more than 16 percent to non-oil GDP. “It also employs 15 percent of the total civilian work force,” he said quoting RCCI statistics. There are 163,844 institutions under the sector.
According to a study, power consumption in Saudi Arabia increases by 5.5 percent annually as a result of the growing number of population and industries. During the last three years, the Saudi Electricity Company has implemented projects at a cost of SR21 billion.
Desalination plants are one of the major sources of electricity supply. Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen said his ministry had allocated SR1.5 billion for the maintenance and renovation of desalination plants in the country. Saudi Arabia is now the world’s largest producer of desalinated water with desalination meeting 70 percent of the country’s present drinking water requirement.
