Nama Group — the holding company that groups 10 government-owned entities operating in the generation, procurement, transmission, supply and distribution segments of the power sector — posted a total operating revenue of RO 1.121 billion in 2016. This compares with total earnings of RO 1.099 billion a year earlier — an increase of two per cent, the Group’s Chief Executive Officer said.
Addressing the Group’s annual press briefing yesterday, Eng Omar bin Khalfan al Wahaibi,CEO, said the year saw the state-owned holding company grow on all key fronts, notably in the expansion of its customer base to well above the 1-million mark for the first time in his history.
“Nama Group continued to record growth in 2016 by enhancing the assets of transmission and distribution networks,” Al Wahaibi said. “The Group has increased its reach, covering more customers and new geographic areas as a result of the new connections to serve all customers including; residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural and governmental segments.”
“The number of customers reached 1,074,608 in 2016, which is an increase of 7 per cent compared to 2015. The units sold to customers increased by 5 per cent to 30,254 gigawatt-hours (GWh). Nama Group has also invested RO 448 million in electricity distribution and transmission networks compared to RO 394 million in 2015,” he stated.
Further investments in the development and expansion of the networks are anticipated during 2017 and beyond, although at a relatively slower pace than in past years, the CEO noted.
Transmission-related investments planned by Group subsidiaries this year include network connections designed to evacuate output from two new Independent Power Projects under development in Ibri in Dhahirah Governorate and Suhar-3 in North Al Batinah Governorate. Additional reinforcements of transmission networks in the Main Interconnected System (MIS), the main grid serving much of north Oman, are envisioned as well.
On the distribution front, new investments will focus on providing 11KV connections to new customers, reinforcing the 33KV distribution network, and extending this network to cover more areas in step with population growth, he said.
Significantly, funding for its ongoing network expansion and modernisation programme will continue to be supported by the Group’s financing project, dubbed ‘Lamar’, Al Wahaibi explained. The initiative was launched in 2014 to provide long-term and short-term financing to the Group. Notable funding deals secured via the Lamar initiative include the RO 795 million financing of Oman Electricity Transmission Company’s $1 billion bond, as well as loans of RO 170m to Muscat Electricity Distribution Company and RO 240m to Mazoon Electricity Co. Last year, a further RO 227 million in loans were secured on behalf of group subsidiaries Majan Electricity Company (RO 127 million) and Dhofar Power Company (RO 100 million). “In 2016, Nama Holding launched a tender for the appointment of consultants for the second phase of the long-term financing project of RO 750 million to finance the needs of all companies which benefited from funding in the first phase in addition to the Rural Areas Electricity Company (RAECO).
The mandate of the consultants is to provide advice and the implementation of the financing strategy, sources, market, and key requirements to support the group’s capital investment programme and loans for 2017 and 2018. Nama Holding succeeded in refinancing short-term loans as planned in the second phase of the project,” said the CEO.
Total assets of the Group increased 9.5 per cent to RO 3.595 billion last year, up from RO 3.282 billion a year earlier.
Conrad Prabhu
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