Egypt’s Central Partnership Unit (PPP) is set to launch 12 projects in 2016, according to the unit’s head Atter Hanoura.

The government unit says it will press ahead with approximately EG20bn ($2.5bn) worth of projects across a number of sectors including desalination and sewage.

Hanoura told MEED that the unit plans on launching a further seven projects by the end of the year. “We will launch two desalination projects at the end of the month as well as the river bus project in November.”

On 31 August MEED reported that Egypt’s PPP Central Unit, on behalf of Egypt’s Construction Authority for Potable Water & Wastewater (CAPW), signed a contract with a consortium of the local Orascom Construction and International Consultants for Agency & Trade (Icat), Spain’s Aqualia, and France’s Veolia to build the Abu Rawash wastewater treatment plant expansion.

The project is seen as new territory for a government that has struggled since the instability caused by the 2011 unrest.

The reality for Egypt is that local banks are short of foreign currency, and the government budget includes a fiscal deficit that can only be alleviated by curbing state spending.

As a result, Cairo is putting a lot of effort into making progress with 19 PPP projects with a combined value of up to £E29bn ($3.8bn), which are due to go to tender soon or are at the pre-feasibility/feasibility stage.