Saudi Arabia leads Middle East rental demand

• 12 years ago (2012-01-26)
• Junior Isles

Middle East 311 North America 998

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Saudi Arabia leads the Middle East in demand for rental power generators, according to Shrikant Pataskar, the general manager of the Dubai branch of Kirloskar. He also predicted a 20 per cent growth for the industry in 2012 with much of this coming from Saudi customers.

Pataskar said he expected Saudi Arabia to provide the most significant demand for rental power in the Middle East, largely due the extensive construction and development work taking place in the Kingdom.

“An increase in business and infrastructure activity has been witnessed, especially in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This has increased the demand for generators. Apart from work requirements, the dependency on electricity is very high due to weather conditions,” he said. “As such, generators are required for either prime or for stand by purposes, depending on the availability of grid power.”

“We expect the market to grow by at least 20 per cent, with the major growth coming from Saudi Arabia. We also expect the re-exports market to pick up from Dubai as users in the neighbouring region would prefer to purchase as per requirement, rather than carrying a large inventory,” he commented.

Group marketing manager for Rental Solutions and Services (RSS), Robert Bagatsing, agreed with Pataskar’s analysis, adding that the Kingdom was the priority for rental companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), primarily because of its lack of infrastructure.

“Saudi Arabia still has opportunities because of the lack of infrastructure there, which could be attributed to a problem with funding, a delay on deliverables or other factors,” he said.

“The government, private sector and non-governmental organisations should really get their act together. There’s a lack of coordination between these three bodies, which is needed in order for them to move forwards in their power projects. We’re talking about legislation in the government; we’re talking about private-public partnerships.

“We need enough substantial agreements between all agreed parties, we need support from non-governmental organisations, those who are providing knowledge and paving the way for everyone to get their acts together,” he added.

Bagatsing confirmed that RSS had signed on for a number of major contracts in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Western Africa, and that it expected to begin delivery towards the end of the first quarter of the year.