UAE-Based Utico Eyes Sustainable Investments in Oman’s Water Sector

Utico, the largest full service private utility company in the UAE, on Tuesday said it is looking at sustainable investments in Oman to offer consumers world’s lowest water tariffs. Utico, which is backed by the Oman Investment Authority (OIA), last week won the largest independent water project (IWP) in Dubai and signed water purchase and shareholder agreements with the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA).

The company through its wholly owned Oman-based subsidiary, Majis Industrial Services, said in a statement that it is positioning itself to bring value to Oman’s water sector in a sustainable manner and hopes to invest this year, leading to channeling capital and know-how back to the country, as well as contributing to socio-economic progress.

HussainAllawati, CEO of MENA region and head of global investments at Utico, in a press statement said, “In line with Oman’s 2040 Vision, we will invest into sustainable projects in Oman; Oman will be in the top three countries in terms of our investment target in the next five years. This will also bring the subsidies lower and protect consumer tariffs from increase.”

Utico said it scored a major milestone by winning the Dubai IWP contract with the world’s lowest water tariff in a tough and challenging procurement model of DEWA, demonstrating its capacity and quality to negotiate at arm’s length basis to deliver a sustainable development. The Dubai IWP’s capacity is 120mn gallons per day with facilities to expand production, which would make it the largest desalination plant in the world.

Allawati said, “The Dubai win shows the company’s ability to deliver sustainable returns to its shareholders in addition to bringing in efficiencies to government long-term concessions. This has been made possible with Utico’s innovative approach and the vertically integrated model encapsulating all elements of the value chain.” He said the governments in the region are continuing to expand the desalination capacity and they are looking to enhance the contribution of key sectors such as agriculture for which efficient and cost effective supply of water is a key enabler.

“We are well positioned to capture the opportunities in the sector and is currently evaluating public markets for both debt and equity to expand our capital base. Our competitive position in a growing sector will deliver superior risk adjusted returns to our investors and capital providers,” Allawati said. Adapting the same successful model, he said, Utico is keen to bring the benefit to the Omani water sector by providing the most efficient technology with affordable economical scale.