The Ministry of Electricity agreed with officials of Elsewedy Electric and the Saudi NCC to reduce the contractual value of the establishment of a power line from Samalout to Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt, in accordance with the directives of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
Government sources said that the ministry had reduced the contractual value of the implementation of the project in agreement with the two companies in a meeting held by the Minister of Electricity, Mohamed Shaker. The ministry is to send an official letter on the new contractual value after the reduction.
El Sewedy Electric won the opportunity to implement the first two power lines. The first is in Akhmim, Sohag, with a length of 180 kilometres. The second is a 176-km connecting line between Akhmim and the east Qena region.
NCC will be installing power lines in Nag Hammadi, Qena, with a length of 70 km.
The sources told Daily News Egypt that Al-Sisi called for the Electricity Minister to summon the officials of the two companies to reduce the contractual value of the project, amounting to EGP 4.1bn, as the parallel national grid is expected to be completed in June 2017.
The sources said that 60% of the project’s cost will be paid in Egyptian pounds, while 40% will be in US dollars, adding that the total cost of the Nag Hammadi line will increase for passing through agricultural areas, and the state will provide compensation to the land owners.
The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) seeks to increase the number of power lines to absorb the added capacity in the emergency plan, which is to be added to future production projects.
The Ministry of Electricity is satisfied with the Siemens projects in Borollos and the New Administrative Capital, and it will focus in the upcoming period on developing and expanding the national electricity grid to absorb the future capacity, according to sources.
Gamal Abdel Rahim, head of EETC, told Daily News Egypt that the authority has started the implementation of the plan to strengthen the transmission network to absorb expected loads, either through the development of the existing lines or the expansion of the network. The EETC has contracted to implement 1,210 km of high-voltage lines.
These projects come as part of the electricity sector plan to expand and strengthen the national grid to cope with added capacities and electrical loads.
