Dewa needs $19bn to keep up with demand

Dubai's state-owned utility said on Sunday it could borrow as much as $19 billion over five years for investments to feed the fastest growing appetite for power and water in the world.

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) will require capital expenditure of $19.1 billion between 2008 and 2012, and would raise most of that in loans and bonds, according to a prospectus given to investors on Sunday.

The cash will be used to help the company meet demand for water and power, which Chief Executive Saeed Mohamed Ahmed Al-Tayer said would grow at as much as 20% a year until 2012.

"The growth will vary between 15% to 20% annually over the next five years," Al-Tayer told Reuters, without confirming the figures in the prospectus. "That is the highest growth rate in the world."

The prospectus was handed out at a presentation to investors on a Dewa bond sale to raise at least $2 billion in conventional and Islamic financing.

Demand for power and water is surging in Dubai, driven by rapid economic and population growth. The Gulf emirate plans to achieve economic growth of 11% per year to 2015 and almost double its workforce, Dubai's ruler said in February.

Electricity consumption in the desert emirate, where day-time summer temperatures hover around 42 degrees centigrade, soared almost 30% to 21,475 gigawatt-hours last year, and water consumption climbed 11.3% to 64.9 billion gallons, according to Dewa's website. (Reuters)

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

DEWA
Posted by Taffy, dubai, uae on Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 20:00 UAE time


IT has started offsetting costs to there public is just unacceptable and probably the beginning of many offsets , have they pursued all angles " tribology or petronomics " is the way forward answers mechanical efficiencies from input and out put perspective by 10% thats significant.

Energy Conservation
Posted by Terence Fu, Singapore, Singapore on Monday 5 November 2007 at 13:00 UAE time


Surely DEWA has studied many options in managing the energy demand and averting power supply constraints. Hopefully DEWA would consider implementing the “Time-of-use Pricing” policy and incentives or rebates for developer in adopting energy conservation measure by using thermal ice storage air-conditioning system.

$19 Billion projected borrowing
Posted by Gloria, Sharjah, UAE on Monday 5 November 2007 at 10:00 UAE time


If DEWA is prepared to spend this much on using fossil fuels to increase the ecological footprint in the gulf would this money not be better investing in alternative solar power to supplement the grid. This would be a much more environmentally friendly solution

Energy Consumption
Posted by CarolineT, Dubai, UAE on Monday 5 November 2007 at 08:00 UAE time


Hopefully DEWA will be spending some of this money on educating the region in the saving of natural resources and becoming environmetally aware rather than merely catering to extravagant power/water demands!

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM