Huge PPP opportunities in the pipeline

26 May 2015

Egypt’s PPP Central Unit says 19 public-private partnership projects with a combined value of $3.8bn are set to be tendered or are at various feasibility stages

A total of 19 public-private partnership (PPP) projects with a combined value of up to £E29bn ($3.8bn) are due to go to tender soon or are at the pre-feasibility/feasibility stage, says Atter Hannoura, director of the PPP Central Unit in Egypt’s Finance Ministry.

“We have seven projects ready, totalling about £E9bn,” says Hannoura. “We have 11 or 12 projects in pre-feasibility. These are worth about £E16bn-£E20bn. These will be tendered in future years.”

The projects under tender or due to be put to tender soon include the 1.6 million cubic-metre-a-day (cm/d) Abu Rawash wastewater treatment plant. Technical and financial bids are under evaluation. “The award will be announced at the end of May and the contract in June,” says Hannoura. Two companies are in the running for the concession: the local Orascom Construction Industries and Kuwait’s Kharafi National.

Technology park

Another scheme is the Cairo Contact Centres Park in Al-Maadi. “The project involves the financing, designing, construction, furnishing, operation and maintenance of administration buildings for usage or renting to companies working in the field of information and communication technology,” says Hannoura.

“These specifically involve firms engaged in business process outsourcing, call centres, innovation and other permitted activities, on 12 specific land lots located in Al-Maadi Technology Park. The amended prequalification document was issued on 26 April. The deadline for submission of the applications is 31 May.”

Key fact

The Abu Rawash wastewater treatment plant award will be announced at the end of May

Source: PPP Central Unit

The Nile River Bus scheme in Cairo is also moving forward. “The concession calls for the rehabilitation of 16 existing berths and the construction of 12 new ones,” says Hannoura. “The developer will buy the new fleet and operate it for 30 years. A consortium has been assigned as the transaction adviser for the project, comprising EY as lead and financial adviser, in association with WSP/Parsons Brinkerhoff and Dorsch Consult Egypt as technical adviser, and Eversheds and Arab Legal Consultants as legal adviser. The prequalification document is planned to be issued in July after Ramadan.”

The project to automate notarisation offices is likewise due to be tendered soon. The project involves the Justice Ministry and the Communications & Information Ministry.

“We have about 400 offices nationwide,” says Hannoura. “These will be automated and rehabilitated, and will all be connected to a national data centre with a disaster recovery centre. This project will have a direct impact on services for the people and reduce the transaction period from three hours or more to 20 minutes. A lot of internet and other services will be available. The prequalification document shall be issued at the end of June.” 

We have seven projects ready totalling £E9bn. We have 11 or 12 projects in pre-feasibility… worth £E16bn-£E20bn

Atter Hannoura, PPP Central Unit

Another major project planned is the rehabilitation of Safaga Industrial Port. “We are rehabilitating this port to be a value-added one that exports industrial goods in liquid form,” says Hannoura. “All the storage areas and tanks and liquids will be built. The second activity is importing livestock. There will be a platform, quarantine area, and slaughterhouse and meat processing. The third activity is importing wheat and other grains. There will be 35 silos, as well as a supporting industrial zone.”

Prefeasibility stage

Hannoura says projects at the pre-feasibility stage include the desalination projects to be tendered in the third quarter of this year at Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada. One will have a capacity of 40,000 cm/d and the other 20,000 cm/d.

Another such scheme is the Helwan sewage treatment plant. The project includes the construction, financing, operation and management of a new wastewater treatment plant with a total capacity of 250,000 cm/d.

A further project at the pre-feasibility stage involves river transport ports; three in the southern Nile area and one in the Delta region.

“This project is to be tendered by the end of 2015 or early 2016,” says Hannoura. “A consortium comprising [the UK’s] Atkins and Frontier Economics is working on the demand capacity forecast.”

Three or four additional desalination projects and three wastewater treatment plants are also at the pre-feasibility stage. “We are working on the big wastewater plants,” says Hannoura. “The small wastewater plants for villages can’t be dealt with through [build-operate-transfer].”

Add to this list the recycling cities. “We have already received three big plots of land that will be dedicated for recycling cities,” says Hannoura. “They will receive solid waste plus hazardous, petroleum, dangerous, construction and hospital waste. This will be a multi-type project. We are preparing to invite specialised advisers to work on this. We have five sites, of which we are working on three.”

Lastly, the authorities are also looking to build four stadiums. “We will be building four new stadiums in Luxor, Mersa Matruh, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh,” says Hannoura. “They will include sports camps and are to be put out to tender in 2016.

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