RIYADH, 15 March 2006 — A premier state-controlled Pakistani company has won a major contract worth SR335 million in Saudi Arabia for the installation of 380kV high-voltage transmission lines. “The National Power Construction Company (NPCC) has received this job order in a stiff bidding process in which several international companies of high stature participated,” said Masood Hamid, NPCC’s chief project manager, here yesterday.
Hamid said that NPCC would lay a 160km-long transmission line near the Red Sea city of Jeddah and complete the project in 20 months. “This Pakistani company got the contract due to its international standing and financial credibility,” said Hamid, who heads the NPCC’s operation in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the contract also indicated the progressively growing business relations between the Kingdom and Pakistan, said the NPCC chief.
The Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), the Kingdom’s apex power authority awarded the project. The project comes within the SEC’s mandate, which seeks to generate adequate power to cope with growing demand. The SEC has planned to provide power to all 11,112 villages and settlements by 2008. It has recorded a growth of 5 percent annually in power consumption in the country, while it has set a target to reach 5,700,000 additional customers in 2009.
Referring to the other prestigious power projects executed by NPCC, Hamid said that the company had the distinction to execute many projects recently. It has been involved in several projects in the Kingdom, including the relocation of 380kV and 110kV overhead lines at the Madinah-Yanbu Express Crossing, the reinforcement of Arafat substation, the construction of a 380/110Kv Taif substation, power and pilot cables project in Jeddah and the Tabuk regional electrification project.
“In fact, the total value of NPCC’s overseas projects exceeded SR2.2 billion,” said Ashfaq Ahmad, secretary at the Pakistani Ministry of Water and Power, and Ejaz Malik, NPCC managing director, while commenting on this occasion. “It was an encouraging development for the country’s other construction companies, which could achieve similar success abroad on the basis of good reputation and services,” said Ahmad and Malik in a joint statement released from Islamabad.
