The government of Kuwait has approved the construction of a series of power plants, desalination facilities and other infrastructure projects worth a total of almost US$10bn, the Finance Ministry said
The Big 5 Kuwait, which will be held from 14-16 September 2015, comes at a time when the country?s growing construction market is being driven by the energy sector.
According to the International Monetary Fund, energy projects constitute 40 per cent of the country?s total construction projects as of May 2015.
Kuwait?s overall energy construction spending is expected to reach US$100bn over the next five years as it begins the implementation of its comprehensive 2030 strategy, research done by Ventures reported.
According to industry sources, Kuwait is struggling to meet soaring demand for electricity and the planned projects will add around 3,580MW of capacity, as well as waste treatment and developments for the Education Ministry.
The ministry has not set a timescale for most of the initiatives, except for a sewage plant, which will start by 2020. It also did not say how they will be funded beyond saying 50 per cent of the finance will be raised through stock market offerings.
Among the projects, Kuwait has planned a second phase of the gas-fired Az-Zour North power and desalinated water plant that has an initial capacity of 1,800 MW. It will also build the first phase of the Khairan power plant with 1,500MW of capacity, which will use different types of fuel, and the Al Abdaliyah power plant with a capacity of 280MW, of which 60MW will be from solar energy while the rest will be fed by gas.
The country also wants to generate 15 per cent of its energy needs via renewable sources by 2030, with the first of up to 100 solar-powered fuelling stations operating by 2017, oil minister Ali Saleh al-Omair had said in June this year. A pilot 70MW project in the Shagaya desert zone west of Kuwait City is expected to be completed by next year.
