The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council yesterday approved a funding plan for the much-talked-about GCC power grid project, which is estimated to cost $6 billion. âGCC electricity ministers approved the special mechanism for funding the project,â Kuwaiti Energy Minister Sheikh Ahmad Fahd Al-Sabah said, adding that the project would be implemented âvery soon.â The first phase, which involves linking the grids of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar, will cost $2.25 billion and is in the prequalification stage, Sheikh Ahmad told reporters after a meeting of GCC ministers in Kuwait City.
| Tying themselves to the Magic Kingdom; there's a smart idea. |
Saudi Arabia will contribute about 40 percent of the first-phase cost, Kuwait 36.5 percent, Qatar 13.5 percent and Bahrain about 10 percent, Sheikh Ahmad said. The Dammam-based Gulf Electricity Link Authority (GELA) will oversee implementation. The second phase involves linking the grids of Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The resulting two mega-grids will be joined in the final phase. The GCC states began discussing the project some 20 years ago to integrate their transmission systems, make better use of their power-generating capacity and contribute to the development of the GCC common market. But the plan was not given a kickstart until the establishment of GELA in 2001. According to Mohammed Al-Zarah, chief executive of the authority, the project would be implemented in three phases between 2004 and 2010.
| Wonder how many do-nothing Saudis are going to be employed? |
The huge project, once implemented, will save the GCC states billions of dollars, as it will reduce the cost of generating power. Studies have shown that the cost of linking the GCC power grids will be lower than the setting up of several new power generation plants in the Gulf region. The power grid will ensure regular power supply to thousands of industrial units operating in the Gulf countries, thus helping to boost their productivity substantially.
| They might even have a measurable industrial output by then. |
| I suppose it'll give the terrs something else to boom... |
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