RIYADH, 15 January 2008 — Maaden on Sunday signed a $100 million (SR375 million) contract with ABB Contracting Co Ltd for two electrical substations that will connect its phosphate and aluminium mega-projects at Ras Al-Zour to the national grid.
At the formal signing ceremony held here, Maaden President & CEO Dr. Abdallah Dabbagh said “the signing of this contract marks the first major milestone for our infrastructure works at Ras Al-Zour, in the Eastern province. The high capacity and quality of infrastructure there will be critical to the efficiency of our phosphate and aluminum operations. We welcome ABB as our partner in delivering such important facilities to Ma’aden.”
ABB Contracting Co. Chairman Abdullah Ibrahim Al-Hobaib, said “we are happy to be part of this prestigious project and look forward to a successful and long business relationship with Ma’aden.”
The contract is for the engineering, procurement, construction, testing, commissioning and completion of 380 kV and 115 kV gas insulated switchgear (GIS) substations at Ras Al-Zour and certain related works, on a turnkey basis.
Maaden is creating a separate wholly-owned subsidiary to develop infrastructure and services at Ras Al-Zour in order to support co-located phosphate and aluminum facilities.
Site preparation, access and internal road construction is already under way as well as planning for traffic management, security and emergency response on the 77 sq km site. The substations will initially provide power for the commissioning and start-up of the phosphate operation and will subsequently be used for the import or export of approximately 600 to 1,100 MW of power from both the phosphate and aluminium projects at Ras Al-Zour.
The substations will connect the aluminum and phosphate projects to the national power grid via overhead transmission lines from Jubail.
Maaden is a Saudi government wholly-owned joint stock company established in 1997 in order to facilitate the development of the Kingdom’s non-petroleum mineral resources and diversify the economy.
It is engaged in the development, advancement and improvement of all aspects of the mineral industry, mineral products and by-products and related industries. Maaden is also committed to the best international and local standards in environmental regulations and values its role in corporate social responsibility.
On the other hand, ABB Contracting Co. Ltd. is specialized in execution of turnkey electro-mechanical projects.
A strong base of executed high voltage substations and industrial projects makes ABB Contracting Co. Ltd. one of the leaders in its field. It has installed more than 100 substations, ranging from 1 kV to 380 kV, throughout the Kingdom.
