Hamrawein coal plant contracts to be signed in mid-2018: Minister

CAIRO – 17 October 2017: Project contracts of Hamrawein 6,000MW coal-fired power plant are expected to be signed by mid-2018, with operations to start five-six years later, Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker told Egypt Today Monday.

International consultant of the project, Belgian Tractebel Engineering Consultancy, is still studying the offers made by bidders, Shaker said, adding that three international consortiums have submitted bids for the project, which costs between $5.5-6 billion in total.

The consortiums include Shanghai Electric and Dong Fang Electric consortium, and a Japanese-American consortium led by General Electric (GE) and a consortium of Japanese companies led by Mitsubishi-Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS).

Speaking at an event organized by the British Egyptian Business Association (BEBA) Monday to review latest developments of the electricity sector, hosting Shaker as a keynote speaker, the minister highlighted that the project’s construction is expected to take from five to six years, with each phase of the plant to enter operations at 2,000MW.

“The project’s consultants asked the three bidders to amend some terms of their offers and they have re-submitted the bids,” Shaker added.

In June, nine local banks announced intentions to fund $1.5 billion in loans to the project’s construction, including Commercial International Bank (CIB), Qatar National Bank (QNB) Al-Ahli, the Arab African International Bank (AAIB) and others.

The project is planned under the Electricity Ministry’s 2022-2027 program on EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) + Finance basis.