Likely bidders for the Talkha gas turbine package include GE Power Systemsof the US, Germany's Siemensand a Japanese team of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI)with Tomen Corporation. All three groups bid for the turbine packages on Cairo North and Nuberiya, which were awarded to GE and MHI/Tomen respectively. A fourth 750-MW combined cycle plant is planned for Kureimat, after which all 17 projects being planned in Cairo's 10-year expansion plan will be standard steam turbine plants.

The decision to press ahead with the scheme follows the awards of all major contracts on the Cairo North and Nuberiya combined cycle projects, with the exception of the civil works package on the 1,500-MW Nuberiya project, for which four technical bids are now being evaluated. The frontrunner for the contract is a partnership of Besixof Belgium and the local Orascom Construction Industries, which priced the contract at £E 254 million ($41 million), followed by a consortium of Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC)and the local Misr Sons Development (Hassan Allam & Sons), which submitted a commercial bid of £E 266 million ($43 million - MEED 3:10:03).

The consultant is the local/US Power Generation Engineering & Services Company (PGESCo).