The conference, held at the Abu Dhabi Hilton from March 12-13, 2006, featured in-depth discussions on the range of challenges facing the industry including financing, privatisation and environmental concerns.

Mr. Madwar's presentation titled 'Optimizing operating cost for water treatment plant in power sector' identified the benefits of establishing on-site laboratory and optimizing water treatment process which substantially reduced operational costs of power plants.

The Metito executive presented a case study of a project undertaken by the company recently. Metito's techniques resulted in savings up to 19% of operation and maintenance cost at a successfully executed project for the Indonesian Government on the Asam River in Banjarmasin, a river port and capital of Kalimantan Selatan province on the island of Borneo.

'The success of Banjarmasin project was primarily due to Metito's on-site laboratory which could conduct water frequent tests, jar tests and thrice-a-week water analysis. The company also was able to optimize the entire water treatment process which resulted in significantly reducing power consumption,' Mr. Madwer said.

Metito's technology can offer substantial advantages to projects in the Middle East, where cost plays a crucial role. Research indicates the Middle East region alone will be spending more than US$45 billion on the power and water sector in the next five years in order to keep pace with the demand which is growing at an average 7-8% annually.