The Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) is set to assign a loan agreement worth EGP 37bn with the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Banque Misr (BM) on Tuesday to develop and implement electricity transmission and distribution projects.
Sources told Daily News Egypt that the repayment period will extend over 15 years, with a grace period of 3-5 years. The Ministry of Finance will bear 12% of the interest, while EEHC bears 3-5%.
The sources added that the agreement was expected to be signed on Sunday, but was delayed to Tuesday. Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker will attend the ceremony. Financing the loan will be syndicated through an alliance that includes NBE, BM, CIB, and QNB.
According to the sources, NBE will be the manager of EGP 19.4bn of the syndicated loan, while BM will secure another EGP 18bn. CIB and QNB will both arrange and manage the loan and its regulations.
Shaker told Daily News Egypt in previous remarks that the most important challenges of the electricity sector this year include the development and expansion of the transmission and distribution networks to accommodate the added capacity of production projects.
These projects include a contract with State Grid Chinese company on the establishment of 1,210 km-long electricity lines.
The EETC also contracted with Elsewedy Electric Company and the Saudi National Contracting Company (NCC) to establish lines extending from Samalout to Nag Hammadi worth EGP 4.2bn.
The Ministry is also implementing a 500 kv line to link the under-construction South Helwan power plant and Samalout transformer substation, as well as from the power plan to Assiut.
Another 500 KV line is also underway, linking between Beni Suef power plant and Nag Hammadi, extending over 426 km. This line will be finished before the summer in 2018 and will be parallel to the old existing line that was established with the construction of the High Dam in the 1960s.
