KUWAIT: The Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) received approval from the Central Tenders Committee to sign a KD 3.595 million contract with a security company to hire security guards around power transformers around the country. The deal allows the MEW to provide protection to its facilities which were subjected to multiple thefts which resulted in blackouts reported around the summer as well as losses estimated in millions of dinars. Earlier talks with the Interior Ministry to secure transformers broke down when the latter explained that they would not be able to provide around 2,500 police officers required for the task.
MEW faces a challenge every summer to cope with the gradually increasing demand on its services, but their efforts this year were hampered by repeated thefts which ministry officials described as the primary reason for blackouts reported around Kuwait. A State Audit Bureau released last August indicated that 600 main and secondary transformers in addition to 150 water wells were subjected to theft between 2007 and 2013, identifying 'organized gangs' as the culprits. It also noted that the MEW loses KD 15 million each year to repair damage resulted from these thefts. According to earlier reports, at least 60 cable thefts have been reported this year, resulting in blackouts that changed an otherwise 'successful campaign' in which the ministry boosted production capacity to cope with the growing demand in summer. Kuwait improved the total daily production of electricity to 14,000 megawatts before the beginning of the summer this year.
Most electricity generated go to power air conditioning which translates into overload in consumption in parallel with high temperatures that usually break the 50 C degrees point multiple times in July each year. Annual reinforcement and maintenance operations at power plants, transformers and distribution networks helped the MEW cope with the yearly increase in demand, but senior ministry officials have repeatedly indicated that a new power plant is necessary to avoid shortage crises in the future. There are seven fossil-fuel power plants in Kuwait that produce electricity and desalinated water for a total population of 3.8 million on a daily basis, with plans to fully operate a new power plant in North Zoor by 2015. Energy production costs Kuwait an annual budget of KD 3 to 4 billion.
© Kuwait Times 2013
