General Electric (GE), a US-based power-generation equipment giant, expects to generate as much as $10bn in revenue from Libya, as the North African country aims to rebuild its economy, infrastructure, and institutions in the post-Gaddafi era.

In an interview with Arabian Business, the company’s regional President and CEO Nabil Habayeb said: “The needs of states need to be addressed” and are “magnified after the Arab Spring”.  According to Habayeb, “There is the wealth in a lot of countries to be able to support meeting those needs; the challenge is for countries that don’t have the same wealth from the petrodollars.”

“The country needs everything, development of oil and gas, which will create the wealth to improve the life of people, clean water, reliable power, a good healthcare system, building the transportation system both rail as well as the aviation system so that you can get the economy going – all of these things are areas of focus for us in Libya, like we did in Iraq,’’ Habayeb added.

In post-Gaddafi Libya, the American multinational conglomerate sees  huge revenue potentials for its business segments, and has been in talks with the provisional government about ways to invest.

“One of the things that governments, especially those that went through a transition because of the Arab Spring, the big factor for them is credibility and how quickly are they going to be able to deliver on the promises and expectations of people,’’ Habayeb said.

In 2011, UK Department of Trade and Investment estimated the value of contracts to rebuild Libya, in areas ranging from electricity and water supplies to healthcare and education, to be upwards of $300 billion over the next 10 years.

“The country needs everything, development of oil and gas, which will create the wealth to improve the life of people, clean water, reliable power, a good healthcare system, building the transportation system both rail as well as the aviation system so that you can get the economy going – all of these things are areas of focus for us in Libya, like we did in Iraq”,  Habayeb quipped.

According to the International Monetary Fund, Libya produced – before the revolt against Gaddafi – about 1.77m bpd of crude oil, equivalent to 2 percent of global output and close to 0.2m barrels-equivalent of natural gas.  The oil-rich North African country also boasts about 3.5 percent of the world’s proven crude oil reserve.

In July 2011, oil production fell to 22,000 bpd and output was restored rapidly in the last quarter of 2011 to half the pre-conflict level.

After contracting 61 percent last year, the North African country’s economy is forecast to surge by 76.3 percent in 2012, according to the IMF.