Qatar will tap the international debt markets to part finance a $30 billion expansion of its power and water sector, an official said.

The envisaged expansion will raise the country’s power output capacity by 150 per cent to 10,500 MW by 2015, said Abdullah al-Subaie, director of technical affairs at Qatar General Electricity & Water Corp (Kahramaa).
The general power and water desalination plants will be financed with IPPs (independent power projects),” he said.
“For transmission and distribution, we are looking at various options including bonds and loans over 7-8 years,” he told Reuters.
The transmission and distribution segment of the expansion plan would cost around $15-20 billion, he said.
“The equity would be about 20 per cent and debt 70-80 per cent,” he said.
The expansion plan is meant to meet demand growing at an average of 12 per cent a year, he said. Qatar, holder of the world’s third-biggest reserves of natural gas, is home to about 850,000 people. The plan involves building new plants and expanding current facilities and the country’s power and water distribution grids, he said.
Subaie did not give exact details but said work had already started on some aspects of the expansion. In the shorter term, until 2010, Kahramaa has committed $7.5 billion to take power capacity to 7,900 MW and raise water capacity to 290 million gallons a day from 175 million now.
Kahramaa shelved plans to raise tariffs in 2006 to avoid escalating the country’s inflation and will continue with current rates for the time being, he said.
In another development, Areva snapped up it biggest contract worth about 500 million euros ($731 million) from Kahramaa to develop gas-insulated substations in Doha.
The Kahramaa contract is part of the Qatar Power Transmission System Expansion programme and includes the turnkey delivery of 14 gas-insulated substations (GIS1) besides the development and enhancement of the network.
Areva’s transmission and Distribution division (T&D) will deliver the equipment by the first quarter of 2010, said a top company official.
“In addition to this historic win, we have been awarded a second contract, which
includes the delivery of a state-of-the-art technology to upgrade the National Control
Centre. The centre, built by Areva in the late 90s, represents the core of the
country’s power transmission system,” Anne Lauvergeon, CEO of Areva, said.
“With a 20 per cent market share in the region, Areva’s activities have grown significantly over the past few years thanks to its recognised expertise. These strategic wins accompany the booming development of Qatar and secure power supply for both
domestic and industrial end-users,” she pointed out.
The contracts were signed during an official ceremony in the presence of Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Lauvergeon and Philippe Guillemot, chairman and CEO of the group’s T&D division.