High hopes for privatisation in Kuwait | beyondbrics

High hopes for privatisation in Kuwait | beyondbrics:

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Kuwait has long grappled with its electricity supply. Every summer offers a reminder that the gap between power generation capacity and demand is woefully tight. In 2010, the working day stopped at midday to save power during the hottest months when Kuwaitis crank up their air conditioning. For the world’s ninth largest oil producer, this was pretty embarrassing.

Many of Kuwait’s power plants were built in the 1980s and are showing their age. Operations and maintenance work has been patchy at best and very few power stations have been built in recent years. Meanwhile, demand for power had risen by about 7 per cent a year over the past decade.

In a bid to boost efficiency, in 2010 the government invited private companies to construct, own and operate new power plants. Kuwait signed its first public-private partnership agreement on Thursday, making it the last Gulf state to adopt the private power model."

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