NEWS Links
Kuwait's the highest water consumption per capita rate in the world -- KISR
KUWAIT, April 24 (KUNA) -- Kuwait recorded the highest consumption on a global scale with around 500 liters per capita, said an official at Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) on Sunday. Head of Water Science Department at KISR Dr. Khaled Al-Barak told KUNA that such level of consumption was irrational, and comes despite the government's efforts to prevent such abuse of valuable resources. He noted that saving around five percent of overall consumption would help secure a huge amount of water which would equal the production of Shuwaikh Desalination Plant, which comes to around 18 million gallons on an annual basis. Al-Barak said that citizens had a huge responsibility to lower the consumption of water. Noting that there were projects to erect more plants in the future to meet demand, the official stressed such plans did not mean that the consumption could go much higher without great risk. People should start reducing their individual consumption of water, said Al-Barak, adding that any emergency water plan should be based on self awareness rather than just storing of water. He also indicated that finding alternative methods to reduce consumption and also increase reserves would also benefit Kuwait, affirming that such strategies were sought by KISR personnel.
Power, water expansion plans to cost RO390m in Oman
21 January 2012 09:14:08 Oman Time
Muscat: Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Mahrouqi, the chairman of the Public Authority for Electricity and Water (PAEW), has said that the allocations for the electricity and water sector for 2012, to meet its expansion drive, will amount to RO390 million.
In a statement to Oman News agency (ONA), he pointed out that the departments are currently considering the construction of new power plants in Salalah and A’Duqum, and that work is under way to complete the construction of four power plants in several governorates. He added that the first power and water desalination plant in Salalah in the Governorate of Dhofar will produce 450 MW and 15 million gallons of water. The partial operation of the project started in mid-2011 and it is expected to start operating commercially in April 2012.
Al Mahrouqi pointed out that the second power plant in the wilayat of Sohar (second stage) will produce 750 MW and is expected to be completed in 2013 whereas the third project, the Barka power plant (third stage), which will produce 750 MW, will start commercial operations in 2013. “The operation of the first stage of the two plants is expected to start in the second quarter of 2012. The fourth project is Sur plant, which will produce 2,000 MW and it is expected to start commercial operations in mid-2014,” he said.
He added that work is under way to float a tender for the construction of a water desalination plant in Al Ghubra (40 million gallons per day), which will start operations in 2015.
Water treatment plant
The authority is also preparing the designs for the construction of a water treatment plant in Wadi Daiqah to supply potable water to the wilayats in the Governorate of Muscat. He pointed out that PAEW plans to construct new plants in the Governorate of Northern Al Batinah and the Governorate of Muscat, namely in Quriyat, each with 44 million gallon per day. In response to a question on the government subsidy for the electricity and water sectors, the PAEW chairman added that the basic economic cost for supplying water is expected to hit RO591 million in 2012, about 28.7 baisas for each (kw/hr). The cost in 2011 was about RO495 million, which is about 26.8 baisas for each kw/hr. Al Mahrouqi added that the expected revenues to be collected from the subscribers in 2012 stand at RO329.3 million whereas the initial revenues for 2011 were RO296.4 million. He expected the government support to this sector to reach RO263.3 million in 2012, compared to RO.199 million in 2011, due to the increase in the required actual support, which is expected to be 13 baisas for kw/hr compared to 10.9 baisas for kw/hr. in 2011. Al-Mahrouqi added that this increase is attributed to increase in the capital budgets of the electricity transmission and distribution companies to implement a number of projects to meet the growing demand for electricity and the increase in the capacities of electricity purchased from Barka plants (third stage) and Sohar plant (second stage), which is expected to be partially operated in the second quarter in 2012, in addition to the increase of the operational expenditure due to the increase in salaries and additional employment of 500 employees in 2011. He added that the expected cost of supplying water in 2012 will hit RO192 million compared to RO169 million in 2011. The total revenues in 2012 is estimated at about RO63 million whereas the gross revenues for 2011 was about RO55 million, which would be a 13 per cent growth. He affirmed that the government subsidy is expected to hit RO126 million in 2012 compared to RO114 million in 2011 (11 per cent growth). He further said that the expected increase in the government subsidy for 2012 is attributed to the growth of demand for water
due to the expansion in the construction of water networks in a number of governorates in the Sultanate. He added that the government subsidy for each cubic metre will decrease from RO1.075 in 2011 to RO.1.057. The PAEW chairman added that the technical and non-technical loss for electricity stood at 24.6 per cent in 2004 whereas it hit 16 per cent in 2010; a decrease by 29 per cent in the loss rate compared to a 63 per cent growth in power generation. He added that after conducting the required audit by PAEW of 2011 data, the electricity loss is expected to be about 14 per cent. Al-Mahrouqi pointed out that savings in the direct costs due to reducing loss by 24.6 per cent in 2004 to 16 per cent in 2010 is about RO12 million. PAEW has developed necessary regulations for the respective electricity companies to reduce the loss rate to 11 per cent by 2015. He added that any complaints received by customers are responded to and that PAEW audits the electricity company data to ensure accuracy of meter readings and billings. He said the Electricity Holding Company has made a detailed feasibility study to implement the electronic meter readers for electricity and water. The cost has been estimated at RO250 million. The study proposed to implement the project first in a limited scale to ensure accuracy and efficiency of the system and ensure that they are compatible with the available infrastructure. He pointed out that the implementation of this system will not only ensure accurate reading and billings, but rather it will also enable customers to effectively monitor and control their consumption. |
