Arabian Bemco said to win $1.25bn power deal

Arabian Bemco Contracting Co (Bemco) has won a SR4.7bn ($1.25bn) contract from Saudi Electricity Co (SEC) to build a power plant outside the capital Riyadh, an industry source familiar with the project said on Saturday. SEC, a state-owned utility company, said on Wednesday it had signed the contract to build the PP12 plant, which has a capacity of 2,175 megawatts, without naming the contractor. Investments in power projects from 2012 to 2021 would amount to 452 billion riyals to meet rapid economic growth in the world's largest oil exporter, SEC said on Wednesday in a statement carried by the official Saudi news agency, SPA. SEC has revised upwards its estimates for the amount it will invest in power projects over the next decade to more than SR400bn ($106.6bn) from SR300bn, the kingdom's deputy electricity minister said on Monday.