EXCLUSIVE: Contractors wait for Egypt coal project

02 September 2018
Firms were invited to submit proposals in 2015 for coal-fired IPP

Contractors are still waiting for progress with the tender for the planned 2,640MW coal-fired independent power project at Ayoun Moussa in Egypt.

The project has been under negotiation since 2015, when the developer, a subsidiary of the UAE’s Al-Nowais Investments, signed initial project developments with the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC). Contractors were first invited to submit proposals in 2015, and then subsequently submitted revisions on proposals.

However, according to sources close to the project, the project is still in the “bid revision” stage, with no sign that the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract will be awarded anytime soon. MEED understands that the Al-Nowais subsidiary, AMEA Power, is still in negotiations with EEHC over the development contract for the plant.

MEED reported in February 2016 that preliminary studies had been completed, and that Al-Nowais was negotiating with EEHC and seeking finance.

The project was one of three bilaterally negotiated coal-fired IPP projects for which initial agreements were signed in 2015. Progress with the projects stalled due to a number of issues, from concerns over contract provisions to the fall in the value of the Egyptian pound following the currency flotation in late 2016.

The successful implementation of a 2015 fast track programme, followed by the award and execution of 14.4GW of capacity under a megadeal with Germany’s Siemens, reduced pressure on Egypt’s utilities provider enough to allow the project to proceed. In 2017, a local press report said that Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity had postponed implementation of the Ayoun-Moussa project until 2022-2027, falling into the ministry’s next five year plan.

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