Egypt

World Bank to provide $1B grants for Sinai development.-Sinai,Egypt

The World Bank commission in charge of following up with the Sinai Integrated Development Programme headed by Ashish Khanna and Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr discussed on Sunday finalizing the measures necessary for $1B grants.

The ministry also secured financing in the value of $2.5 billion from the Saudi Development Fund, the Kuwait Fund for the Arab Economic Development, and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.

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Sisi inspects development projects in Galala plateau.-Suez,Egypt

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi embarked an inspection tour of a number of urban and service projects being carried out at the City of Galala Mountain in the Red Sea area between Ain Sokhna and Zafarana on Friday, according to a statement issued by presidential spokesperson Bassam Radi.

Sisi reviewed the latest developments of this integrated project, hailing the efforts exerted in implementing this great project according to the set timetable.

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Egypt’s govt investment plans in South Sinai worth EGP 1.363 bn in FY 2018-19: Minister.-South Sinai,Egypt

Egypt’s Planning Minister Hala El-Saeed discussed on Tuesday with South Sinai Governor Khaled Fouda investment plans and projects due to be implemented in the governorate in the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

The total planned investments in South Sinai development are worth EGP 1.363 billion, she said.

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Cairo calls on Egyptian expats for water advice

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Chief among the recommendations proposed at the closing session were encouraging the media to spread water awareness among the population, expanding the use of unconventional water resources, for example, desalinated seawater and treated wastewater, and supporting water-related projects and technologies. Noor Ahmed Abdel Moneim, an expert on strategic water management, backed the proposals. “The recommendations are good, especially those related to developing water awareness among citizens,” Abdel Moneim told Al-Monitor. “It is also necessary to develop the water desalination mechanisms currently in place, increase the use of groundwater and ration water use in water-consuming agriculture, such as rice and sugarcane.” He further stated, “Egypt suffers from water poverty. Its share of the Nile water has been 55.5 billion cubic meters since 1959, back when the population stood at 25 million. This means that the average per capita share was about 2,000 cubic meters per year compared to less than 600 cubic meters per year now, with the difference being driven by significant population growth. As the world average per capita share stands at 1,000 cubic meters, this means that Egypt is below the water poverty line.” Abdel Moneim assessed, “Egypt’s current water consumption is 76.5 billion cubic meters per year, which means that there is a deficit of about 21 billion cubic meters of water that Egypt is trying to compensate for either by reusing agricultural, health and industrial drainage water or by expanding the use of underground water.”

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Egyptian government negotiating with Schneider Electric and Seven Seas Water on desalination plants

Khaled Kamel, vice president of energy and export at Schneider Electric’s Egypt and North East Africa office, told Daily News Egypt that the proposed desalination plants will be implemented over several stages, starting with a capacity of 300 cubic metres of water per day. He added that Seven Seas will secure the required funding for the projects and sell the desalinated water to the government for 20 years. Kamel added that the American company offered to sell desalinated water at EGP 17 per cubic metre, but the government asserted that the maximum acceptable rate is EGP 5. The two sides agreed to build the project in the North Coast or South Sinai. He further added that the company’s current focus is on negotiations with the government regarding the implementation of water projects and the price of allocated lands, as well as ways of exempting the plants from taxes or customs. Kamel asserted Schneider Electric’s interest in participating with the Ministry of Housing in the desalination projects, adding that the company has developed a study on the public sector’s partnership model with the private sector on desalination projects in preparation to discuss it with the Egyptian officials. He said that the company will complete the implementation of another four desalination plants this month with a capacity of 600,000 cubic metres per day. The company can run the water plants on solar power with a plan to participate in repair and upgrade works to water and sewage plants. Kamel also revealed that Schneider Electric presented a request to Rosatom to participate in supplying equipment to the Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant. The company also presented a report to the Minister of Military Production Mohamed Al-Assar on its factories in France and their capabilities. Source: Daily News Egypt 

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Experimental desalination&solar facility inaugurated Borg El Arab – Egypt

The Multipurpose Applications by Thermodynamic Solar (MATS) plant in Borg El Arab, Egypt has been inaugurated. A research and development initiative aimed at advancing solar energy technology in Egypt and the Middle East, the project was led by a consortium of 11 partners from Italy, France, Egypt, Germany, and the UK, Orascom Construction said in a statement. According to the company, it participated in the funding and the construction of the project. The European Union reportedly co-financed the initiative. The MAT plant comprises an integrated concentrated solar power (CSP) and water desalination facility that can serve a community of 1,000 people in a desert area, Orascom added. Describing the plant as “experimental”, Orascom said that the project will serve as a “launching pad for scaling [the] technology and developing the project into a full-fledged research and development centre for renewable energy”.

The MATS plant is not Orascom’s only renewable energy project in Egypt. The company constructed and installed the country’s first CSP parabolic trough solar field in Kuraymat, Egypt from 2008 to 2010. It is also currently developing a 250MW wind farm on a build-own-operate basis, the first project of its type and size in Egypt

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European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) approved a loan of $300 million for the establishment of a water desalination plant in Ain Sokhna – Egypt

… Mamish added that the new contract with EBRD is a result of his last visits to Germany and the U.K.“The loan will be allocated for the project’s feasibility study, the environmental studies and the implementation of the new plant,” Mamish revealed. According to Mamish, EBRD’s directors appreciated the SCZone, placing it among its priorities during the coming period. An alliance of five shipping lines that earlier this year had ceased East Port Said operations in protest of a hike in fees have agreed to return to the port, Mamish said. The SCZone’s head went to Germany for talks with Hapag-Lloyd, K Line, Yang Ming Marine Transport, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and the NYK Group. A number of incentives and discounts were offered for the return of the international shipping lines, the statement explained. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) and General Authority for SCZone have announced up to 50 percent discounts on fees for loading and offloading containers in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. Under the announced scheme, vessels carrying less than 200 containers will not receive a discount. A 10 percent discount will be given to vessels transporting 200 to 500 containers, with 15 percent for fewer than 1,000, 20 percent for fewer than 2,000, 25 percent for fewer than 3,000, 45 percent for fewer than 3,333 and a 50 percent discount for vessels transporting more than 3,333 containers. The statement also added that A.P. Moller Capital Co. will be pumping new investments in the infrastructure, ports development and ship catering sectors…

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Parliament to vote in plenary session on three laws related to nuclear activities – Cairo – Egypt

The amendments are necessary before Egypt and Russia lay the foundation of the first nuclear power station at El-Dabaa

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El-Wakeel explained that the aforementioned authority will be affiliated with the Ministry of Electricity and will be mainly tasked with proposing the construction of nuclear power stations for the purpose of electricity generation in Egypt as well as establishing desalination projects. “This authority will also take charge of conducting studies and research on nuclear stations in Egypt, and drafting the specifications of these stations,” said El-Wakeel, adding: “The amendments will also pave the way for the authority to sign contracts with the private sector in Egypt and outside Egypt in the area of building nuclear power stations.” According to the amendments, the board of the abovementioned authority will comprise 10 members to be named by the minister of electricity and ratified by the president. The laws will give the authority the prerogative to sign contracts with local and foreign entities, so long as such agreements do not harm national security. The amendments also state that “all equipment, tools, cars, spare parts and materials to be imported by the authority will be exempted from any custom duties, and all companies and institutions contracted by the authority will be also granted the same exemptions.” They also stipulate the authority’s loans and credit facilities borrowed from foreign sources to build nuclear power projects in Egypt are to be exempted from all taxes, and that contractors and sub-contractors employed by the authority to build its projects will be granted the same exemptions. MPs will also discuss a new government-drafted law aimed at the creation of an “Executive Authority for the Supervision of Nuclear Stations for Electricity Generation.” “The authority, which will be affiliated with the Ministry of Electricity, and will be located in Cairo with possible branches inside or outside Egypt, will be responsible for the technical supervision of nuclear stations designed to generate electricity,” the draft law said.

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16 new desalination plants – capacity of 473,000 m³ – Egypt

… Moustafa Madbouly, the Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities, said that the implementation of 16 water desalination stations is taking place. The stations’ capacity is estimated at 473,000 cubic metres per day and will be built in five governorates. Madbouly said that the stations aim to serve the new communities and coastal cities underway, including New Alamein and East Port Said.

Madbouly explained that the governorates where desalination will be taking place include Matruh, North and South Sinai, the Red Sea, and Port Said. He emphasised that the expansion in desalination stations is a result of the state’s attention to maintain the water of the Nile in coastal governorates to save it for other activities, such as agriculture.

Sayed El Ashry, the chairperson of the National Authority for Potable Water and Sewage, said that the 16 stations to be implemented include four in Matruh—the expansions of Sidi Barani and Ramleya 3, in addition to New Dabaa with a total capacity of 34,000 cubic metres. Another station is being implemented in El-Alamein with a daily capacity of 150,000 cubic metres. …

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Egypt looks to the sea to meet its need for water

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With Egypt’s population having more than doubled in the past 25 years, its water supply is increasingly scarce. The country is allowed to draw 55 billion cubic metres a year from the Nile, which is pretty well tapped out by the time it reaches the Mediterranean. It gets another 5 billion cubic metres from aquifers and rainwater.

Ethiopia is about to begin filling the reservoir of its Grand Renaissance Dam, which, depending on how quickly it is done, could reduce the flow of the Nile by as much as 20 per cent over the next few years.

 With a scenario such as this, desalination begins to look extremely attractive. The cost of desalting seawater has fallen to between US$0.50 and $1 per cubic metre worldwide and looks set to get even cheaper.

New industries and other facilities setting up in the Suez Canal Economic Zone are now expected to get the bulk of their water from desalination.

Last year, the army commissioned construction of three 140,000 cubic metre per day plants. One will be at the southern entrance of the Suez Canal at the new city of Al Galala being built on a mountain overlooking the Gulf of Suez. A second will be at the canal’s northern entrance near the industrial zone of East Port Said and the third near El Alamein on Egypt’s north coast.

 “Egypt is going fast in desalination,” says Hosam Shawky, a director at the Egyptian Desalination Research Centre. “It plans to reach 500,000 cubic metres of capacity in three years and 1 million cubic metres in seven years.”

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