RIYADH, 20 December 2005 — More than 90 percent of the Kingdom has been electrified and the remaining remote and isolated areas in the interior will be covered by 2009, Deputy Minister for Electricity Affairs Saleh ibn Hussain Al-Awaji told Arab News yesterday.
The deputy minister also said that the Kingdom is planning to extend the power grid to Egypt, which will be the largest of its kind in the Middle East. The first power line to Egypt is in the planning stages. The move to link up Egypt is significant since the Kingdom is a major investor in that country. The Kingdom is starting first phase in setting up power lines to Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait, which is targeted for completion in 2008 at a cost of SR4.1 billion.
Al-Awaji made his comments during the Saudi-French seminar about new technologies for electrical systems development that took place in Riyadh. “By the end of 2004, a total of 10,160 cities and villages were given power lines, which brought the total subscribers to 4.6 million. This was an increase of 5.8 percent over the previous year,” Al-Awaji said.
According to the deputy minister, the Kingdom has 75 power stations with an output of 35,000 megawatts, which was an increase of 1.4 percent over the previous year.
Al-Awaji told representatives of the nine French companies that participated in the Saudi-French seminar that the Kingdom has a budget of SR30 billion for power and water projects for the next decade. The investments will go toward generating 5,000 additional megawatts and 2.2 million cubic meters of desalinated water. Twelve more power transmission lines will also be constructed in the next ten years. “Attractive opportunities are available in the Kingdom for foreign investors in the field of power generation and distribution. They could also invest in the industrial sector, which could manufacture power tools, high-voltage equipment, switch gears and spare parts for the power plants,” said Al-Awaji. “We would also like to exchange expertise in the power sector.”
French Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Charles D’Aragon praised the French-Saudi symposium, entitled “New Technologies and Standardization for Transmission and Distribution Networks and Electrical Power System Development,” calling it a testimony of the strong commitment on behalf of the two countries in the development of business relations. “The year 2005 has been a record year for the Saudi economy, which shows a high level of performance,” said D’Aragon, adding that the forecast for 2006 is extremely positive. Total cost of capital projects in the coming fiscal year will reach SR126 billion including mega projects in the field of power production and distribution, he noted.
