Electricity and water projects worth around QR38bn will be implemented in Qatar over a five-year period, from January 1, 2018 until December 31, 2022, to meet the growing requirements in the country.
This was announced at Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa)'s Annual Planning Forum, which was held under the theme 'Towards achieving the goals and creativity of business integration' on Thursday.
The forum, chaired by Kahramaa president Issa bin Hilal al-Kuwari, featured announcements on some of the major ongoing projects, including the water reservoirs being developed in five different areas.
Directors, managers and section heads at Kahramaa participated in the meeting to review and discuss plans and projects for the next five years as well as revise last year’s performance levels.
The forum was told that at least two mega reservoirs were nearing completion while 60-80% of the construction of the other reservoirs had already been completed. Of them, one is said to be among the largest of its kind in the world.
The completion of water reservoirs over the next few years is expected to help the country achieve the ambitious targets set in the food security programme, it was observed at the forum. Once the mega reservoirs are completed, water storage capacity in the country is likely to increase significantly.
Similarly, with the completion of ongoing power projects in Umm Al Houl and capacity enhancement at other facilities, electricity production will also get a huge boost.
The ongoing and future water and electricity projects being handled by the corporation come under three phases: 2014-2018, 2019-2023 and 2024-2030, it was observed.
Notable among the indicators for 2017 was providing nearly complete coverage around the country in terms of the water network and electrical grid, it was pointed out.
The officials who addressed the meeting said Kahramaa would be able to effectively execute its ongoing plans and meet requirements with its own finances while the new projects would be undertaken with financial support from the government.
Officials said wastage of water and electricity has been reduced considerably after the introduction of the Tarsheed programme for the effective and optimal utilisation of resources five years ago. While acknowledging the significant gains of Tarsheed, the officials reiterated their commitment to achieve further improvement in the coming years.
In his address, the Kahramaa president stressed the importance of Qatar National Vision 2030 and hailed the seven recommendations in His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad al-Thani's speech at the opening of Advisory Council's new session.
Al-Kuwari also deliberated on the 10 topics of the second National Strategic Development (2017-2022), representing the frameworks and basis on which Kahramaa's plan for the next five years from 2018 to 2022 is set.
The forum, he said, is in line with Kahramaa’s plans to attain its strategic objectives through innovation and creativity to ensure continuous development.
Kahramaa, he said, has completed a business integration project that will be implemented by the beginning of 2018.
The planning and quality department then presented an overview of the future five-year plan.
The forum also reviewed the most important indicators related to Kahramaa, including electricity network affairs, water network affairs, technical affairs, shared services directorate as well as corporate departments. They discussed and reviewed the 2018-2022 plan.
Director of planning and quality Ibrahim al-Emadi made a presentation highlighting the corporation's target achievements and expectations up to 2030.
Gulf Times
December 30
