SEC keen to empower Saudi manufacturers

Commerce and Industry Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah has commended the keenness of Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) to encourage national industries through the purchase of electrical products in the Kingdom.
"The SEC’s purchase of local products last year amounting to more than SR 12 billion indicates its support to indigenous companies," Al-Rabiah said,
He was opening the Saudi Forum for Indigenization of Electrical Equipment Industry, organized by SEC, in Riyadh.
The local companies specialized in electrical products have been striving to diversity their products so that they can meet the requirements of SEC, said Al-Rabiah.
"The national companies have also been striving to diversify their products to meet the domestic and external demands, especially in industries of cables, electrical transformers, cutout devices, electrical panels, and electricity towers," the minister said.
Siemens is planning to set up a large factory in the Kingdom for the manufacture of large generators to meet the needs of the domestic market and for export to the regional and international markets, he said.
The forum also reviewed the SEC’s achievements in the past years, including investment opportunities with the participation of the private sector.
"The SEC launched in 2010 a restructuring program with the aim of raising its productivity and operation efficiency in addition to improve its service level," Suleiman Al-Hobaish, chief of SEC’s resources sector, said at the forum.
It also set up in 2012 the National Company for Transmission and would launch four companies in the sector of power generation and another company for power supply, Al-Hobaishy said.
The official said SEC's generation capacity would reach 87,000 MW in 2018 registering a 62 percent rise from the current level of 54,000 MW.