By Fareed Rahman
Senior Reporter
Abu Dhabi: General Electric (GE) sees growing opportunities in the Middle East, with governments in the region continuing to spend on crucial sectors of the economy like energy, healthcare, among others in partnership with the private sector.
“Across the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, Pakistan, we have about $17 billion [top line order numbers] and continues to grow. This region continues to be an important region for the company,” Nabeel A. Habayeb, president and CEO of GE for Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, told Gulf News at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
“Take a look at places like Iraq or Libya, where we are also building up [our capabilities] to make sure that we support the needs of the government in power side and healthcare side.”
The recent rise in oil prices will help move projects a bit faster, he said.
“We have a positive outlook for the region and the price of the oil certainly helped move projects little bit faster. There is a lot of appetite around the world to finance projects in this part of the world and this will also help move projects forward.”
In Saudi Arabia, the company sees new investment opportunities in the renewables sector — especially in wind and solar energy — as the government decides to spend between $30 billion (Dh110 billion) to $50 billion (Dh183 billion) in the coming years up to 2023.
Saudi Arabia is targeting 9.5 gigawatts of wind and solar energy by 2023, Asem Othman Alkadi, from Saudi Arabia’s Renewable Energy Project Development Office, told reporters at the summit on Monday.
“We will not stop and will go beyond that. We are optimistic to achieve the target. The government is supporting the programme in a big way,” said Alkadi.
Habayeb said there would soon be announcements relating to a huge number of investments on the renewable side in Saudi Arabia and these would be split between solar and wind as well.
The company is also looking at new investment opportunities in Neom, the $500 billion futuristic city unveiled by the Saudi government in October last year.
GE is coordinating with Saudi Arabia on how they could help in the development of the city whether in solar, wind, or digital or grid side, according to Habayeb.
The global firm has invested over $1billion in Saudi Arabia in power, oil and gas, healthcare and aviation sectors in building manufacturing facilities service facilities, research and development, among others.
More than 50 percent of the heavy-duty gas turbine fleet in GCC comprises GE units, and GE-built technologies generated more than half of the region’s electricity in 2016.
