Egypt is moving ahead with its public-private partnership (PPP) programme and is continuing to tender projects, says Atter Hannoura, director of PPP Central Unit, Egyptian Ministry of Finance.

Speaking at MEED’s Arabian World Construction Summit (AWCS), Hannoura said the government is continuing to move its PPP programme forward, despite the current political uncertainty in the region.

‘’PPP is important, we cannot depend on government financing for 100 per cent of projects, nor the private sector completely to develop all of the infrastructure,’’ said Hannoura.

‘’We currently have four PPP projects open and have a very rich pipeline.’’

One of the PPP projects moving ahead is the Abu Rawash wastewater treatment plant.

‘’The prequalification process for Abu Ruwash has been completed and it will be tendered in the next two to three months. We expect to receive bids in the first or second quarter next year after the election,’’ said Hannoura.

The Abu Rawash plant will be developed in the Giza governorate, west of Cairo. The winning bidder will take over the existing facility, which has capacity of 1.2 million cubic metres a day (cm/d), and increase capacity to 2 million cm/d.

The Director of Egypt’s PPP unit also said that final bidding documents for the wastewater treatment plant at 6 October City near Cairo are expected to be issued by August, and that bids would be expected early in 2012 after the elections.

The winning bidder will finance, design and build a 150,000-cubic-metre-a-day (cm/d) wastewater treatment plant (MEED 26:11:10).