The country’s water and electricity sectors are expected to gain significantly from investments worth about $22bn that the authorities have planned for the next eight years, in particular in the five-year period between now and 2018, according to a senior Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) official as reported by Qatar Chronicle.
This includes the setting up of 140 new electricity substations and adding new water lines of more than 810km across the country. Among the new projects on the anvil are five new water reservoirs in as many different locations, which he said would be capable of storing 2,700 MIGD (million gallons a day) of water.
Making a presentation on the growing investment opportunities in the utilities sector in coming years at the Qatar Projects conference held at Grand Hyatt. Hotel yesterday, Technical affairs manager of Kahramaa Ahmed Nasser al-Nasser (pictured) said there would be large-scale investments in the infrastructure upgrading in Qatar in view of the authorities’ determination to ensure world-class services to the country’s residents.
While there would be an additional power generation of 2100 mw in the next five years, which includes among others the building of at least two major power stations on the country’s northern side, a similar boost is also expected to happen in the drinking water sector the availability of which would go up by about 180 MIGD. With the installation of the new capacities, the daily availability of water is expected to cross more than 500 MIGD by 2018, he said.
The new power station is expected to come up in what the speaker referred to as a new economic zone that the country is planning to set up on its northern side. The current installed capacity of electricity in Qatar is about 8700MW, said Ahmed Nasser al-Nasser, who is a senior engineer at the Kahramaa.
The Kahramaa official said the corporation is exploring the possibility of availing of the thermal and reverse osmosis technologies in coming days for the generation of drinking water. More agreements on this score are expected towards the end of the year, he disclosed. By the end of this year itself, the water availability would shoot up by at least 40 MIGD with the commissioning of a new project in Ras Laffan area.
Elaborating on the works to be undertaken for electrical transmission network expansion, the official said investments worth more than QR10bn are expected for such major upgrading of the power sector in the years running up to 2018.
All the new 140 sub-stations which are planned for the next five years would be in the capacities between 66kv and 400kv, he said.
The official also recalled the growth in the consumption of power amounted to about 9% in 2012 compared to the 2011 figures. “During the peak period, the growth was in the region of 13%”.
In the water sector, the country is expected to witness developments worth QR3.2bn in the next five years alone and before 2022, works worth another QR3.8 bn would be executed. Developments include construction of some major building projects as well, added al-Nasser.
The senior Kahramaa official also reiterated the corporation’s determination to reduce water consumption by about 35% in the next five years in view of the unprecedented demand for drinking water arising out of enormous rise in the country’s population. Stating that the country’s per capita consumption of water is one of the highest in the world, the corporation has embarked upon a campaign (Tasheem) to effectively reduce wastage by country’s residents,Similarly, efforts are also underway to reduce the electricity at both the residential and commercial buildings.
While enlarging on the initiatives being taken to spread the message of careful electricity consumption, al-Nasser said the awareness park that Kahramaa had developed in Thumama is one such venture.
Source :
Qatar Chronicle
Follow us on our social media channels:
@ILQlive
@ILQlive
@ILoveQtr
ILoveQatar
