Marubeni Wins Contract to Build Power, Water Plant in UAE

Tokyo, Aug. 2 (Jiji Press)–Marubeni Corp. said Thursday the major Japanese trading house has concluded a deal to build a large- scale plant to generate power and desalinate seawater in the Emirate of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.

Marubeni, together with British partner International Power PLC, signed the 20-year power and water sale contract on Wednesday with the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority.

The project envisions the establishment of a plant with power generation capacity of 2,000 megawatts and daily desalinated water output of 590,000 tons.

The total costs of the project will reach 330 billion yen. Marubeni will put up 18 billion yen and take out a project finance loan worth 260 billion yen with an international group of banks, including Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

Marubeni and International Power will set up a company jointly with the Abu Dhabi authority to carry out the project. The new firm will be owned 60 pct by the Abu Dhabi authority and the rest by the pair.

Construction work for the plant will start in December, with operations expected to begin in 2010.END

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