Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) said it has signed up two major banks to provide bidders a debt facility for up to $200 million in connection with its first Independent Power Project Programme (IPP).

The Dubai utility said its relationship banks, Emirates NBD and HSBC will be supporting the 'Hassyan 1 IPP' project, which will have a capacity of 1600 MW.

Dewa said it plans to build a large power and desalination complex at Hassyan with a capacity of up to 9,000 MW of power and 720 million g/d desalination, in response to increases in population and continued expansion of projects undertaken in the UAE.

The Hassyan Power generation complex will be a joint venture - 51 per cent owned by Dewa and the rest by the winning bidder which will have the 49 per cent stake, the company said in a statement.

The complex will include up to six plants, of which the Hassyan 1 IPP is the first, and will be located next to Dubai World Central, it added.-TradeArabia News Service