(DNE Photo)
The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources aims to connect 1.2m residential units with natural gas during the current fiscal year (FY) 2015/2016.
Minister of Petroleum Sherif Ismail announced Monday that the ongoing programme is part of the government’s plan to increase the level of services being provided to Egyptian citizens.
He indicated that 710,000 residential units were connected to natural gas during FY 2014/2015, witnessing a 7% increase compared to the preceding year.
Since the beginning of the programme until the end of FY 2014/2015, natural gas has been delivered to approximately 6.9m residential units.
Of the main priorities of this year’s programme are poor and highly populated areas along with new areas that will witness the connection of natural gas for the first time. The Matruh governorate will also be one of the main priorities and will have natural gas delivered to it. Around 26 governorates will receive this service.
Part of the expenses needed to cover the project will be through agreements that have been made with international funds. The World Bank will contribute $500m, the French Agency for Development (AFD) with € 70m, including a grant from the European Union worth €68m.
