Banking sources estimate debts of the Saudi Electricity Company at $25.6 billion (SR 96 billion), reports Al-Hayat daily.
The company acquired these debts after ten smaller Saudi electric plants, which used to supply power to the country, merged into the larger Saudi Electricity Company. Banking specialists added that these debts currently exceed the company’s total assets value.
Despite these statistics, the development of the power sector in the Kingdom has been lucrative as well as instrumental in the growth of the country’s economy. Currently, Saudi Arabia has one of the highest per capita electricity consumption rates in the world; demand growth in the last few years has been assessed at 15 percent per year.
Consequently, the Ministry of Industry and Electricity has implemented a 25-year electrification program in which it plans to invest as much as $117 billion by 2020 to meet increasing demand from a soaring population.
Furthermore, the government plans to grant concessions to the private sector to promote the construction of new power plants on a BOT (build-operate-transfer) basis. –(MENA Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
