Tractebel/GIC sign Al-Ezzal

07 August 2004
The consortium led by Belgium's Tractebel and Kuwait's Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC)on 31 July signed the key project agreements with the Ministry of Finance & National Economy (MoFNE) for the kingdom's first independent power project (IPP) at Al-Ezzal. The group was low bidder by 15.9 per cent at BD 8.090 ($21.289) per MW/h for the project when five bids were submitted in June (MEED 24:6:04)

Manama has signed a 20-year offtake agreement with the developer, which is obliged to ensure the availability of 470 MW by the summer of 2006 - when current generating capacity is due to fall behind demand on current trends - and 1,000 MW in 2007. MoFNE's advisers on the project were BNP Paribas, the UK's Mott MacDonaldand UK-based Freshfields Bruckhaus Derringer.

Total project costs are estimated at $500 million. Tractebel and GIC will jointly invest $120 million of paid-up capital in the project company, a portion of which is likely to be sold through an initial public offering (IPO). The remainder will be financed by a commercial loan secured from a club of nine banks led by HSBCand Societe Generale(see Banking & Finance).

Germany's Siemensis the nominated engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor. The award is Tractebel's second success in less than a month: the company signed up for the Sohar independent water and power project (IWPP) in Oman in July (MEED 9:7:04).

A MEED Subscription...

Subscribe or upgrade your current MEED.com package to support your strategic planning with the MENA region’s best source of business information. Proceed to our online shop below to find out more about the features in each package.