GE deal has 50% local component, first batch to arrive 2018

CAIRO – 18 June 2017: The local component of 100 new multi-use locomotives, to be supplied by United States’ General Electric (GE), will be 50 percent,” Minister of Investment Sahar Nasr said Sunday.

Egypt signed $ 575 million agreement with GE Saturday, including supplying trains, 15 years of providing spare parts and technical assistance and offering maintenance to 81 new trains.

Minister of Transportation Hisham Arafat said that the first phase includes 25 trains, which will reach Egypt in 2018.

“The initial agreement included a 35 percent Egyptian component in the supply,” Nasr explained in a statement, adding that the deal comes as a result of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s visit to Washington in early April.

The program also includes training 275 railway system engineers and workers, and offering inclusive and competitive fiscal solutions to finance the project by GE along with Export Development Canada (EDC).

On the sidelines of signing the agreement, Nasr discussed with John Rice, GE vice chairman, areas of increasing its investments over the coming period.