Abu Dhabi electricity, desalinizing plant to run by 2004

Published September 27th, 2001 - 03:00 GMT

A group of local, regional and international banks, amongst which is the Abu Dhabi National Bank, will provide a $1.285 billion joint-loan to partially finance the Shuweihat water and energy electricity project, to be built next year and operated by 2004.

For its part, the Abu Dhabi government announced it will contribute Dh 1.5 billion ($400 million), which represents the paid-up capital of the recently established Al-Ittihad Electricity and Water Company, local sources revealed to Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.

The British energy group International Power and US company CMS Energy will operate the water desalinizing station with a capacity of 100 million gallons per day along the Omani Gulf, in addition to gas-fuelled 1,500-megawatt power plant, for a period of 20 year. The two companies will invest $80 million each for a combined 40-percent stake in the project.

The Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) contracted the German Siemens group to construct the Shuweihat plant, which will cost $1.6 billion. — (Mena Report)