Japan-based Hitachi and Saudi Arabia's Walid Ahmad Juffali Company have announced plans to establish a joint venture in the gas-insulated switchgear business.

Hitachi will hold a 51 per cent share of equity in the new venture,  and WJCO  will hold a 49 per cent share, a statement said.

The joint venture will build a new manufacturing  plant for gas-insulated switchgear in Jeddah. The company will focus on gas-insulated switchgear from design and manufacture, through to assembly, installation and sales, as well as handling the entire process at substations from design through to procurement, construction, maintenance, and other related operations.

The agreement was reached with Halla Juffali, the managing director of WJCO, said the statement.

There is a growing need for a variety of electric power transmission and distribution infrastructure, the statement said.

In the Middle East, an increasing population and economic growth have underpinned a sharp increase in demand for electric power. There is now an urgent need to bolster the power transmission and distribution  infrastructure, it said.
 
Hitachi has a long-standing cordial relationship with WJCO. Since the 1970s, Hitachi has constructed numerous substations in the Middle East, mainly in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The Juffali Group has been contributing to the execution of Hitachi’s substation projects in Saudi Arabia since  1978 as a local cooperating  partner.  - TradeArabia News Service