Abu Dhabi to invite bids for US$2b power deal next month

 

ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi plans to invite firms in March to submit proposals to build a 1,600 megawatt power plant worth about US$2 billion (US$1 = RM3.44), a government official said yesterday, as the emirate looks to meet tripling demand by 2020.

Water and electricity demand in Abu Dhabi, one of seven members of the United Arab Emirates federation, is expected to rise 7 per cent to 8 per cent a year over the next five years. Demand is growing quickly as the world's third-largest oil exporter builds infrastructure and industry to diversify away from dependence on petrodollars.

"We have started the process of prequalification and we are targeting sending the request for proposals (RFPs) early next month," said Abdulla Saif al Nuaimi, director of privatisation at the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (Adwea).

"We expect to finalise selection of the developer by November this year, (make the) financial close by April 2011 and commissioning in summer 2013," he said.

The Shuweihat 3 independent power project will be the emirate's ninth power project under a privatisation plan launched in 1998, under which international developers take a stake in the project.

The UAE has embarked upon a nuclear programme to try to meet spiralling electricity demand. In December, it awarded a deal worth up to US$40 billion, one of the largest ever awarded in the Middle East, to a South Korean consortium to build and operate four nuclear reactors in the Gulf Arab country. - Reuters