SAMGE may be less than 20 years old, but the presence of its parent company in Saudi Arabia goes back to the very beginning of the modern kingdom. Since the 1930s, the General Electric Company (GE) of the US has installed almost 300 GE power generating turbines and other turbines made to GE specifications, which represent 65 per cent of Saudi Arabia's total gas turbine power capacity. Since 1975, GE MEELSA, a local joint venture with the local Tamimi Group, has maintained these turbines locally. Between now and the end of 2000, Samge expects to bid for new power projects worth $5,000 million. Apart from PP9, recent successes include the $55 million contract signed in August 1995 to expand the Medina power station (MEED 8:12:95), the $190 million contract awarded in October 1995 for the Rabigh-4 expansion scheme (MEED 3:11:95), and the 340-MW PP8 scheme for Sceco-Central awarded in 1994. Samge has also bid for the combined-cycle option on the 2,400-MW expansion of the Ghazlan power station for Sceco-East, valued' at $1,000-1,500 million. The company was fourth in the bidding for the package when it closed in August 1995, but is said still to be in the running for the contract if Sceco-East chooses the combined cycle option. Samge did not bid for the alternative steam turbine option.