Chairman: SEC needs SAR 50 billion annually to finance power projects

Saudi Electricity will rely partially on its income from electricity bills to cover its finance needs in coming years, Chairman Saleh Bin Hussein Al-Awaji told CNBC Arabiya.

The company needs SAR 50 billion annually to finance its pipeline of projects, and looks for finance sources including commercial bank loans and government’s interest-free credit, said Al-Awaji.

The top official said his company gives priority to qualified local banks and foreign investors to meet its finance objectives.

Al-Awaji said the GCC power grid is now completed after the accession of Oman. The agreements of the wide-range Arab power grid that spans Arab countries including Egypt, were signed, and expected a material progress by late this year or early 2015.
 

Saudi Electricity took a SAR 49.4 billion interest-free loan from Finance Ministry recently, and signed yesterday contracting agreements worth SAR 7.2 billion.