Dewa: ‘developers to blame’

“There is no problem in Dewa,” said Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, Dewa Managing Director and CEO. “We assure you 100 per cent there is no shortage. We have sufficient capacity for water and for power. There are developers who claim there is a delay because of Dewa. But if you go and find out the true reason, they themselves are delaying the project due to their local contractors,” he added.

“We have verified that sometimes they give wrong advice to consumers and media. They are the ones behind the delay, not Dewa. For example, I know that we have five substations commissioned, but their cables are not yet being laid.”

Hussain Nasser Lootah, Dubai Municipality’s acting Director-General, too said the civic authority was frequently blamed for delays.

 

“Developers are responsible for laying pipelines and sewerage

networks within their projects and linking it to the main municipality network. We have nothing to do with the delays.”

Dewa has regularly expanded capacity to meet increasing demand. It recently signed six contracts for mega projects with a total value of Dh12 billion. Dubai has enough water and electricity capacity and can accommodate all existing and planned projects, Dewa chief told Emirates Business.

Dewa’s electricity demand is growing at 15-20 per cent, while water demand is increasing at 12 per cent every year. Amid Dubai’s massive growth fuelled by its ambitious projects, the question of whether the emirate can sustain the growing power consumption has been raised by some property developers, saying Dubai’s $300 billion real estate boom may be slowed as the emirate’s state-owned power and water utility struggles to keep up with demand from residential and tourism projects.

“A power shortage is unlikely but there have been some infrastructure issues due to a lack of power distribution,” a source who did not wish to be named said told Emirates Business.

Frank Donnachie from Abu Dhabi-based Oasis International Power, told Dow Jones Newswires there are some “serious problems” with fuel supply and that the government is struggling to keep up with rising demand.

“It’s a reality that Dewa is behind schedule. Infrastructure isn’t keeping up with property development in Dubai. Demand is outstretching the availability of power and projects such as Dubai Industrial Park and Dubai World Central are waiting for electricity,” he told media recently. (With inputs from Muna Ahmad)