BY MOHAMMAD SHOEB
DOHA: The demand for water witnessed an unprecedented 138 percent growth over the last six years, and the same trend is expected to continue in the coming years, posing different challenges such as scarcity, environmental impact and affordability, which can be addressed through accelerating the privatisation of the sector, a senior official of a local private power and electricity production company said yesterday.
“The demand for utilities has shown a sharp growth over the last several years. The consumption of drinking water has increased to 328 million gallons per day (MIGD) in 2013 from 138 MIGD in 2007,” said Mubarak Nasser Al Nasr, CEO of Ras Laffan Operating Company (RLOC), Qatar’s first Integrated Water and Power Plant (IWPP) established on build–own–operate–transfer (BOOT) model.
Since its establishment in 2001, the RLOC produces over 750 MW of electricity and 40 MIGD of potable water. And after that there were three more IWPP’s have been built in the country as part of government’s reform policy for public-private partnership which started way back in 1996.
Al Nasr, speaking on the sidelines of the 3rd Edition of Power and Desalination Summit, noted that due to exponential growth in population and economic activities, the demand for power has also increased by 57 percent over the last five years to 6255 MW in 2012 from 3990 MW in 2007, which was merely 961 MW in 1997.
He said that Qatar being one of the fastest growing economies in the world, its population is expected to increase nearly eightfold by 2050, and demand for utilities are likely to increase significantly, posing big challenges for the sector, which can be addressed through further privatisation of the sector.
Al Nasr said that in GCC, including Qatar, the scarcity of fresh water is posing different level of challenges such as environmental impact and affordability, which can be addressed through more conscientious and collaborative efforts by the experts and professionals of this industry and decision makers.
“The electricity and water sector in Qatar has gone through successfully a series of phased transitions… however, it is the needs of the time to not only accelerate the ongoing improvement efforts in the current infrastructure but also to build strategic resources to bridge the challenges of tomorrow,” he highlighted.
Addressing the audience during the opening session of the two-day conference, Al Nasr said that in 2003, as part of government’s strategic policy of privatisation of the sector, Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC) taken over all the government owned power and water plants. And last year, a new international company namely ‘Nebras Power’ was established with a paid up capital of about $1bn, which operates and invests outside Qatar.
Providing an overview of Qatar’s ongoing efforts to enhance capcity, he also noted that a new plant, on IWPP model, named ‘Facility D’, with the installed capacity to produce 2400 MW of power and 120 MIGD water, which is in the bidding process with Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa).
Al Nasr also noted that these reforms and transitions were critically vital to meet the recent year’s tremendous growth of electricity and water demand in the country.
The conference, organised by Felming Gulf, was well attended by a host of industry experts, including Dr Corrado Sommariva, ILF Consulting Engineer from the UAE and Dr Fareed Al Yagout, President National Power Company of Saudi Arabia.
The Peninsula
