Oct. 25--AMMAN -- The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources will move forward with the second phase of the Qatraneh power plant project within the next 10 days, according to a senior energy official.

The government and a private sector company will reach financial closure of the second phase of the Qatraneh Power Generation Project by the end of this month, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Khaldoun Qteishat told reporters last week.

On the sidelines of a signing ceremony for the expansion of the Samra power plant, he underlined the need to build power stations to meet the rising energy demand in the Kingdom, which he placed at 7 per cent annually.

The Qatraneh Electric Power Company, a consortium that comprises the Korea Electric Power and Saudi Arabia's Zenel Company has been tasked by the government to build an electricity generation plant in Qatraneh at a cost of around $455 million

The project falls under the ministry's strategic plan to build electric power plants that can generate around 300 megawatts (MW) annually to meet the increasing demand.

According to the ministry's plan, the Kingdom's additional electric generating power should reach 4,000MW, by 2020.

Under the agreement, the consortium will build the plant on a build-operate-own basis over a term of 25 years to generate electricity at a capacity of 373MW.

The first simple cycle phase of the project will go into operation at the end of November next year, while the second combined cycle phase will become operational in August 2011.

The project is considered the second of its kind in Jordan and is expected to cover the growing demand for electric power between 2010 and 2013.

The Kingdom currently imports 96 per cent of its energy needs, spending over one-fifth of its gross domestic product.

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