12 - 18 April 2001
Issue No.529
|
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 12 - 18 April 2001 Issue No.529 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Private sector power boost
FINANCING has been extended for two BOOT (build own operate and transfer) power stations worth a total of $700 million in the industrial areas West of the Gulf of Suez and East of Port Said.
Electricité de France (EDF), which is executing the project, is contributing $210 million in financing. Additional funds are being provided by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which will extend a loan of $390 million, while the remaining $100 million will be provided as a loan by a consortium of international banks.
Although finance contracts were signed last week, EDF began work on the project in early 2000. A Ministry of Electricity press release said that due to the confidence of international financial organisations in the Egyptian economy, "Electricité de France was confident that it would not face any funding difficulties so it started working on the project even before obtaining the required funds."
The West of the Gulf of Suez BOOT power station is scheduled to be operational in April 2003 while the East of Port Said station is slated to go on line in October 2003.
The two BOOT projects, according to the Ministry of Electricity, will provide job opportunities for more than 2,000 Egyptian engineers and workers.
The first BOOT power contract to be awarded in Egypt was in the late 1990s for two of the four phases of the Sidi Krier project which is due to be operational at the end of the current year.
The three BOOT power stations, with $1 billion total investments, will provide an additional 2,000 megawatts to Egypt's current generating capacity of 15,000 megawatts.
The three projects are the outcome of the government's policy to increase private sector participation in the construction and upgrading of infrastructure, particularly in the electricity generating sector.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page