Egypt, Russia reschedule laying foundation stone at Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant due to pandemic

CAIRO – 3 February 2021: Egypt and Russia have agreed on a new schedule to build Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant, which was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, TASS reported.

"The pandemic has slowed down the preparations at the site. The preparations are still ongoing, which largely depends on Egypt as they need to fully complete the technical documentation," the Russian News Agency quoted Russia’s Ambassador to Cairo Georgy Borisenko on Tuesday.

Neither Egypt nor Russia have revealed the new date of laying the foundation stone in the Mediterranean city of el-Dabaa, which formerly was mid-2021.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met with Russian Rosatom’s director Alexey Likhachev in December, which helped set the new schedule, according to TASS.

In 2014, Egypt and Russia announced their cooperation in the nuclear power field. On November 19, 2015, an agreement was finally signed between Cairo and Moscow that allows Russia to build a nuclear power plant in the Mediterranean city of Dabaa, with Russia extending a $25 billion loan to Egypt to cover the cost of construction. The loan will cover 85 percent of the plant, with Egypt funding the remaining 15 percent.

According to the deal, Rosatom finances and constructs four third-generation reactors, with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts (MW) each, for a total of 4,800 MW. The plant will be built on approximately 12,000 feddans and is expected to create over 50,000 job opportunities.

Nuclear energy is part of the government’s plan to diversify its energy sources to prevent any future crisis resulting from shortages in electricity.