Kuwaiti power privatisation plan delayed: report
Plans by Kuwait to privatise the operation of key electricity facilities have been delayed in the absence of a specialised body to oversee the process, a newspaper reports.
The plan was due to start during the 2025-2026 fiscal year and is intended to transfer the operation of power facilities from the government to the private sector, the Arabic language daily Alqabas said, citing a government document.
The plan, on the cards for several years, is intended to ease pressure on the OPEC member's deficit-ridden budget as the operation of these facilities and subsidies to Kuwaiti consumers have cost the government at least 5 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($16.5 billion) over the past three years, the paper said in its Thursday's report.
'The plan has been written off the project schedule during 2025-2026…the reason is because the supreme privatisation council which will oversee this strategic programme has not been formed,' the paper said.
'This plan was supposed to begin during that fiscal year and continue for 4 years…it includes evaluation of assets of those facilities and the formation of one or more companies to which the assets will be transferred.'
Kuwait, which is burdened by high wage allocations and other expenditures, has pondered privatising its key power facilities to ease budget burdens and tackle a widening electricity supply gap due to rapid growth in domestic demand.
A government adviser said last week that Kuwait needs to intensify plans to build renewable energy projects to stave off a possible power supply crisis.
The wealthy Gulf state is expected to suffer from a supply shortage of round 1,600 megawatts (MW) in summer and the gap could widen to 5,600 MW in 2029 in the absence of projects to boost power generation, Najib Al-Muneefi said.
'Without urgent measures, Kuwait could face continuous power supply disruptions and become a pure electricity importer in 2030,' he said.
In January 2025, a Zawya Projects report said Kuwait's project pipeline for the current fiscal year is estimated to touch KWD7.8 billion ($26 billion), 60 percent of which are in the power and water sector. This includes the KWD1.2 billion Al-Zour North IWPP Phases 2&3, currently in the bid evaluation phase.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
(anoop.menon@lseg.com)
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