The Ministry of Electricity and Water faces crisis to increase the production of electric power because of several reasons, starting with the delay of the Central Agency for Public Tenders to resolve the issue of some tenders for the maintenance of power station units, passing through the delay of the Partnership Projects Authority in presenting the projects of the Ministry of Water and Electricity, up to a new problem represented by the removal of an old palace classified as archaeological edifice which hampers the implementation of the Nuwaiseeb station project.
Informed sources told Al-Rai that recently the ministry officials held a meeting with officials of the Antiquities and Museums Department to coordinate between them to “find a practical way out to solve this problem in a way that satisfies both parties,” noting that the ministry will refer to the project consultant to discuss the available options to implement its project if the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters insists on keeping the palace as an archaeological edifice.
The sources explained that “at a time when the ministry intended to implement a project to build a concrete wall surrounding the Nuwaiseeb station site, it received a letter from the Antiquities and Museums Department of the National Council for Culture and Arts with a request to protect the edifice although an understanding was reached between the concerned parties during a meeting in 2019, to “remove all obstacles that conflict with the site designated for building a new station for generating power and water distillation.”
The sources stated that all those who attended the meeting, including the representative of the Department of Antiquities and Museums, agreed at that meeting to proceed with completing the implementation of the station project and the former Undersecretary of the Ministry, Muhammad Bushehri, had suggested that the Ministry construct a building similar to the one that will be demolished, provided that the NCCAL transfers the building blocks that bear the inscriptions of the Musnad line.
In order to avoid delaying the implementation of the project, which was expected to operate before 2023, the Undersecretary of the Ministry in charge, Engineer Mutlaq Al-Otaibi, earlier requested the Director of the Antiquities and Museums Department of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters to transfer the antiquities located within the boundaries of the project land to move forward by enabling the Ministry to complete the implementation of the project, which is expected to produce in its first and second phases 6,000 megawatts.
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