Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power International has secured $2 billion financing for its Rabigh power plant projects, its chief executive said on Monday.

ACWA has secured $1.4 billion of that financing from Saudi banks and the remainder from abroad, Paddy Padmanathan told Reuters.

'We are working to a financial close before the end of May this year,' Padmanathan said in an interview at a conference.

The Rabigh plant, on the western coast of Saudi Arabia, is planned to generate 1,200 megawatts of power per day.

ACWA has awarded a $1.65 billion engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Rabigh plant to a Chinese consortium of Dongfang Electric and Sepco-III, Padmanathan said.

The contract will be signed this week, Padmanathan said. ACWA is aiming to expand overseas this year and is eyeing projects in Abu Dhabi, Oman, Bahrain and Africa, he added.-Reuters