Utilities

Ministry of electricity delegation to sign US$940m electrical station deal with China

A high-level delegation from Iraq's ministry of electricity is heading to Beijing to sign a contract with China to build the coal-powered Zubaydiyya Electrical Station in Wasit governorate. The contract is worth US$940m. 

The station will bring online an additional 1,300 megawatts to Iraq's national electrical network over the next three years.

MoF launches PPP project for sanitation plant in New Cairo

The Egyptian ministry of finance will launch a tender for construction of a sanitation plant in New Cairo town under the Public Private Partnership arrangement in April 2008. 

Rania Zayed, head of the PPP Unit at the ministry, said the capacity of the new plant would amount to 250,000 square metres of waste water per day in the first phase of operation. "The plant is expected to start operating in 2010 at a total capacity of 1.25m square metres per day," she added.

Iran offers natural gas, water to Gulf neighbours

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country was willing to sell natural gas to its Gulf Arab neighbours.

Iran, the world's second-largest holder of gas after Russia, is also willing to sell water to the Gulf, Ahmadinejad told delegates on the first day of an annual meeting of Gulf Arab rulers in the Qatar capital, Doha.

Ministry of water resources executes 181 projects at a cost of IQD 295 billion

The general directorate for commercial affairs in the ministry of water resources plans to execute 181 projects in 2007 at a cost of over IQD 295 billion, according to engineer Ghazi Abdul-Rahman Qadir, director of the general directorate. 

Land reclamation projects in preparation for agricultural use were carried out in east al-Gharraf River in the Thi-Qar governorate, al-Husainiyya in the Kerbala governorate, Kifl-Shanafiyya in the Najaf governorate, Kirkuk and across other parts of Iraq.

Saipem wins €1.4 billion contract in Qatar

Italian energy engineering company Saipem has won a contract worth €1.4 billion (US$2.05 billion) onshore in Qatar. The contract is for the development of the Qafco 5 project involving ammonia and urea plants in an industrial complex about 30 km south of Doha.

Niger says secures US$236m Islamic funding for dam

Landlocked Niger has secured US$236m from Islamic donors to build a long-awaited dam on the Niger river to provide hydro power and help grow food for the largely desert country, the government said.

"Funding for building the Kandadji dam and associated projects has been secured," Prime Minister Seyni Oumarou said after returning from a meeting with donors in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, organised by the Islamic Development Bank.