Egypt invites expressions of interest for power consultancy role

17 February 2013

Technical consultants invited to bid for Dairut gas-powered power plant project

Egypt has invited companies to express interest in providing technical consultancy services for the planned 1,500-2,500MW gas power plant planned in Dairut, located in the Delta region of Egypt.

The combined-cycle power project is set to be developed under a build-own-operate (BOO) procurement model, and forms part of Egypt’s Independent Power Project (IPP) programme. Consultants have until 23 February to submit an expression of interest (EOI) in the power project.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) was appointed as lead financial adviser for the scheme in 2010. Egypt’s government recently received an agreement for financing from the Arab Financing Facility for Infrastructure (AFFI) and is intending to use part of the proceeds to hire a technical consultant to finalise due diligence and provide technical support during the tendering of the Daruit power plant.

The Arab Financing Facility for Infrastructure (AFFI) is a partnership of the World Bank (IBRD), IFC and Islamic Development Bank (IDB). The Technical Assistance Facility (TAF), one of the components of AFFI, raises awareness and enables the creation of transaction advisory services to governments to assist in preparing public-private partnerships (PPP) projects.

The planned Daruit power project has been in the pipeline for a number of years and 10 companies were prequalified to bid on the project in June 2010. However, progress with the scheme stalled with the onset of the uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak in early 2011.

As part of its IPP programme, Egypt is planning to develop a number of IPPs with a collective capacity of more than 3,500MW.

Egypt is facing a race to boost the country’s power generation capacity, with demand having soared in recent years. Peak power demand rose by 11.5 per cent in the summer of 2010, from 21,300MW in 2009 to 23,500MW. Installed capacity at the time was only 25,000MW and some areas of the country suffered blackouts as the system strained under the unprecedented demand.

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