Utilities
From The Report: Oman 2019
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With the utilities sector continuing its long-term shift towards privatisation, these are changing times for power, water and waste in the sultanate. The year ahead will see further private sector participation in the country’s electricity transmission and distribution networks, while new desalination projects will also come on-line. Oman is keen to secure greater international involvement in all sector plans, with the promotion of foreign direct investment a key part of the sultanate’s overall development strategy. The main goal is diversification away from oil and gas, and utilities are playing an important role as companies turn to renewable energy and even coal. This chapter contains an interview with Yaqoob bin Saif Al Kiyumi, CEO, Oman Power and Water Procurement Company.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Essential services: Ownership and administration of the sector is evolving, moving towards greater efficiency and environmental sustainability
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With the utilities sector continuing its long-term shift towards privatisation, these are changing times for power, water and waste in the sultanate. The year ahead will see further private sector participation in the country’s electricity transmission and distribution networks, while a number of new desalination projects will also get under way. Oman is keen to secure greater international involvement in all sector plans, with the promotion of foreign direct investment a key part of the sultanate’s…

Interview

Alternative sources: Yaqoob bin Saif Al Kiyumi, CEO, Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), on new infrastructure projects
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Interview :Yaqoob bin Saif Al Kiyumi To what extent can public-private partnership (PPP) projects play a role in meeting the future demand for water and power? YAQOOB BIN SAIF AL KIYUMI: Approximately $9.5bn in direct investment can be tracked to the PPP-based independent water and power plant programme that was first introduced as early as 1995. The Manah Independent Power Project was cemented by the introduction of the Sector Law in 2004 and the unbundling of the previously state-run electricity…

Analysis

Sustainable supply: Large desalination projects are set to meet growing demand
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In July 2018 the opening of Oman’s largest seawater desalination plant on the coast west of Seeb marked a major step forward for the water utility sector. Completed in less than 30 months at a cost of $300m, the Barka IV independent water project (IWP) has a capacity of 281,000 cu metres per day. The Barka Desalination Company is a consortium made of Japan’s Itochu, French utility companies Suez Environnement and Engie, and local firm Towell Engineering. Water produced at the plant will be sold…

Analysis

Private matters: Sell-off strategy aims to boost investment in the sector
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As the first step in a series of planned privatisations, 2019 should see the partial sale of two government-owned electricity companies: Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) and the Muscat Electricity Distribution Company (MEDC). The motivations for the sell-off strategy are many, ranging from efforts to improve operational efficiency to addressing the country’s fiscal deficit. Privatising major state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is also expected to draw in greater foreign funding, pushing…