District cooling project to be completed in 18 months

According to an announcement, Drake & Scull Water and Power (DSWP), a subsidiary of Drake & Scull International (DSI) PJSC, has been awarded a Dh290 million EPCO (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Operation) contract for a district cooling plant in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The contract includes designing and building of the plant, which, reportedly, has a capacity of 35,000 tonnes. DSWP will also be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the project for a period of 10 years, the announcement said.

In this context, Khaldoun Tabari, CEO of DSI said: “This latest contract win is a step forward for Drake & Scull International in further establishing our presence within Saudi Arabia’s growing water and power industry. With a proven track record in this sector, we are able to deliver quality services and projects to our clients due to the niche engineering capabilities offered by our water and power business stream.”

Tawfiq Abu Soud, Executive Director, DSWP, added: “We are confident that our past technical and operational knowledge in the field, a strong portfolio of prominent projects, which includes two of the world’s largest district cooling plants located in Dubai, and our understanding of the complex Saudi market dynamics, will support us in achieving success in the Kingdom and the region as a whole.”

According to DSI, as of September this year, its projects in Saudi Arabia have contributed to 29% of the company’s total backlog, including the backlog consolidation of recently acquired Drake & Scull International Saudi.

However, Tabari added, “DSI aims to increase the figure to 50% by 2011 by continuing to focus our efforts and resources on the Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) division and in the Kingdom’s water and power industry, which has proved to be highly lucrative.”

Designing and building of the new project is scheduled to start immediately, and will take 18 months to complete, the announcement added.