(RSD) -- Despite the onset of the worst economic downturn in a decade, the outlook for the GCC wastewater sector remains bright with almost $10bn of investment planned in new treatment capacity up to 2015. According to GCC Wastewater 2009, a new report published this week by MEED Insight, sewage treatment capacity will have to more than double over the next six years as utilities seek to meet robust demand and replace antiquated infrastructure. The existing wastewater infrastructure has been under severe pressure since 2004 when strong economic growth, an expanding population base and an upsurge in real estate activity led to significant increases ...
Read Full Story
(RSD) -- The Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) power generation capacity is expected to grow by 44 per cent to surpass 1,609 terawatt hours by 2013. Council members are consolidating their energy capabilities, with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait completing the first phase of a joint power grid for the region last July of 2009. Although the GCC's current installed power capacity is at around 75,000 megawatts (MW), the annual 9.5 per cent growth in demand will require more than 55,000 MW of additional power through 2015. Saudi Arabia, in particular, has emerged as the fastest growing consumer of energy in the GCC and ...
Read Full Story
A project to establish a common currency for the Gulf has been dealt a near-fatal blow with the decision by the United Arab Emirates to abandon monetary union after disagreement with Saudi Arabia over the location of a future central bank. The loss of the Emirates to the currency project could accelerate decisions within some Gulf states to diverge from Saudi Arabia’s desire to maintain a currency peg with the dollar. This could lead eventually to the UAE, the Gulf’s most sophisticated economy, floating its dirham, analysts in the region said. The UAE attributed its decision to quit the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) project ...
Read Full Story
The UAE is among the top three markets that investors will continue to focus on, according to the first GCC Investor Sentiment Report from Shuaa Capital. “Saudi Arabia [with 52.3 per cent of respondents’ votes], Qatar at 42.3 per cent and the UAE at 34.2 per cent will be the three markets in the GCC that investors will continue to focus on and that have the most upside potential,” the investment bank said yesterday. The report also showed that 47.7 per cent of investors felt the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange was the most undervalued market in the region, followed by the Saudi Stock Exchange ...
Read Full Story
