Dewa: Dubai water connections grew by 30 per cent in 2014

Increased economic activity in Dubai helped to increase demand for access to water in the emirate by 30 per cent last year, the city’s main utility provider said yesterday.

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) said water connections rose to 30,300 in 2014, compared with 23,350 in 2013.

The emirate’s economy is projected to grow by 4.5 per cent this year and 4.6 per cent in 2016, according to the IMF, with its non-oil sectors, including trade and tourism, driving expansion.

“The increase in demand for water was led by new developments and growth across all sectors of the national economy. These included construction, economic, industrial and service projects,” Dewa said yesterday.

Saeed Al Tayer, Dewa’s managing director and chief executive, said that Dewa’s installed capacity was 470 million gallons of desalinated water per day and that peak demand was 316 million gallons per day.

Dewa expects demand for water to increase by 6 per cent this year as more property is built and the population grows ahead of Expo 2020, Mr Al Tayer said last month. The company is also expecting an increase in power demand of 5 to 6 per cent this year, he said.

Last month, Dewa awarded a Dh1.47 billion contract to Siemens to expand M-Station, the emirate’s biggest power and water desalination plant, by 700 megawatts by 2018.

The utility provider’s annual profit climbed to Dh5.48 billion last year, up by 12.7 per cent from 2013.

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