King opens major power generation plant

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday inaugurated a power plant project, set up in partnership between the public and the private sectors, a Royal Court statement said. 

The 240-megawatt plant project, located in Al Manakher area east of Amman, has been set up at an estimated cost of $360 million.

The major power station was built with the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), according to an EBRD statement. 

EBRD provided a loan of $100 million in 2012 towards the construction of the new Al Manakher plant, which was completed on budget and on schedule in July 2014, the bank’s statement added.

The project will provide extra capacity to prevent blackouts at times of peak energy use and will secure supplies in response to rising demand. 

It is also in line with the government’s efforts to diversify the Kingdom’s sources of energy. 

Moreover, the project attests to the Kingdom’s ability to draw qualitative investments since it was created in partnership between the private and the public sectors, according to the statement.

The project is carried out by Japan's Mitsui Corporation and the US Corporation AES, in cooperation with the government on the build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis over a period of 25 years. It will cover around 8 per cent of the Kingdom’s needs of electric power. 

On the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony, the King met with the CEOs of the companies involved in the new project and expressed his appreciation of their efforts and contributions to the development of the energy sector. 

He also expressed his full support to the Arab and foreign investors operating in the Kingdom. 

The companies’ CEOs expressed their readiness to expand their investments in the Kingdom, praising its security and stability and openness for investments, highlighting the modern and advanced technologies used to generate electric power via solar energy, according to the Royal Court.  

Besides its importance for the energy sector, the project will provide additional job opportunities for Jordanians.   

At the ceremony, which was attended by Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, Energy Minister Mohammad Hamed highlighted that the energy sector has been able to attract investments, citing $850 million in foreign investments to produce energy from renewable sources such as solar energy and the wind, while $2 billion is invested in producing oil shale under a contract with an Estonian company.