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The London Stock Exchange listed Indian company, Vedanta, will build a US$15M (Dh55M) continuous copper rod plant with annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes in Fujairah, UAE, which will be operational by December to capture the strong demand from regional infrastructure projects. Copper rods manufactured by the plant will be used in cables for power grids for the region and the company is expecting more demand coming from not only the UAE and the GCC but the whole Middle East.

rance-based energy company GDF Suez, South Korean Daewoo International, and UAE-based AES are among 16 firms currently being considered to construct the Fujeij power plant, a 90MW wind farm in Fujeij, near Shobak, around 200 kilometres south of Jordan's capital Amman. Offers for the Fujeij plant are to be submitted by December 19, 2010, with the winning bid to be announced in February 2011.

Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) announced that they will set up a joint venture to produce high voltage cables. The plant will be located in Jebel Ali and will be operational next year. Annual output will be 30,000 tonnes of high voltage cable, supplying the local market and GCC countries. The investment will amount to Dh500 million (US$136 million) and is expected to break even in the third year of the project.

Ducab is planning a US$136.1 million project to help expand public sector electricity networks. The project is a JV with Dubai's Water and Electricity Authority (DEWA) and Abu Dhabi's Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA). It is located in the Jebel Ali area and aims to supply DEWA and ADWEA with high voltage cables. According to company plans, one third of its output will be exported to Gulf states. It is expected that production will start in 12 months.

Ducab-HV, a joint venture between the Dubai and Abu Dhabi governments, has opened a new factory in Jabel Ali, Dubai for the production of single core copper/aluminium conductor power cables with a voltage range of 66kV to 400kV. The plant will increase Ducab's production capacity by 15,000 tonnes of conductor per annum. The company estimates that production will meet the full infrastructural development demands of the UAE. In addition, production is expected to be sufficient to allocate 75% of total output for supplying the GCC, European and African export markets.

It was reported that Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Corporation is planning to build a US$50mln copper tube project at Abu Dhabi's proposed metals park at Taweelah. The company has invited potential contractors to bid by the end of September. It is expected that the project will take 18 months to complete whilst capacity will amount to 30,000-40,000 tonnes of copper tube per annum. The plant aims to meet demand for copper commercial and plumbing tube in the Middle East and North Africa regions which currently rely on imports.

Emirates International Investment Company reveals ambitious Dhs1.8bn plan to establish six hi-tech cable factories globally

Amid the global economic crisis, one sector that has not contracted but has actually expanded is the utilities infrastructure in the Middle East. The government of Dubai announced in January that it will spend AED 37.7 billion (US$10.3 billion) as part of its 2009 budget. A considerable part will be spent on infrastructure projects and power networks will be a significant portion of this plan. According to data provided by Dow Wire and Cable, the regional demand for medium and high voltage cables amounts to 270,000 km and this is expected to rise in the next 2-3 years. While there is still growing demand for medium and high voltage cables, there is currently shrinking demand for smaller products such as building wire.