Altaaqa Global continues Africa expansion

Dubai-based power rental company Altaaqa Global Cat Rental Power has opened a new branch in Johannesburg, South Africa, that will act as a hub for its operations in Southern Africa.

As well as South Africa, the company said the new office would serve Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Altaaqa Global has been swiftly making inroads into the African market; opening of branch offices in several key locations in the continent, including a new office in Nairobi, Kenya, opened in April to serve the East Africa territory.

Altaaqa Global, which is part of the Caterpillar dealer Zahid Group, has a total power fleet of around 1400 MW, including the assets of its sister power company in Saudi Arabia.

It can provide power plants running on fuels such as piped natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, flare gas, diesel and dual-fuel (70% gas and 30% diesel). It said it will be able to use heavy fuel oil (HFO) “very soon”.

Rental outlook

The global outlook for the rental power industry has been encouraging, said Steven Meyrick, board representative of Altaaqa Global. He said the company saw merit in capitalising on this through strategic market and geographic expansion.

“With this recent feat, we believe that we are on our way to fulfilling, even exceeding, the highly ambitious objectives we set at the launch of our company in 2012,” Mr Meyrick said.

And Majid Zahid, strategic accounts director of Altaaqa Global, said, “Southern Africa has a promising economic outlook within the energy, engineering, production, oil and gas, and mining sectors, and we are delighted to open our new office in Africa to provide our wide range of highly innovative interim power plants.

“We are determined to serve various industries, such as oil and gas, petrochemicals, mining, electric power utilities, industrial manufacturing and maritime.”

Hendrick Mtemeri, a power distribution veteran with more than 20 years of experience in the power utility industry, has been appointed as the company’s regional director for the entire Sub-Saharan region, while Paul Heyns and Oduor Omolo have been appointed as sales managers for Southern Africa and East Africa, respectively.