Solar energy companies will be holding a community meeting in Benban, Aswan this week in coordination with the governorate of Aswan. The meeting will witness consultations with the residents of Aswan regarding the importance of solar energy projects and their economic revenues, as well as the advantages of establishing the plants and their benefit for the residents of Aswan, specifically in the area of Benban.
Heads of solar energy companies said that he meeting is one of the requirements and controls of international banking bodies to fund the projects. They added that even if Aswan’s residents welcome the projects, it is still necessary to hold a meeting and conduct a report regarding what the investors reach by the end of this community session.
According to the company heads, the session will include an agreement regarding employing the residents of Benban in the projects planned to be inaugurated, in addition to an agreement regarding establishing an office to receive requests from citizens, where work duration will require the employment of 20,000 workers and technicians.
The meeting will include representatives of the international funding bodies and officials from solar energy companies taking part in the feed-in programme with both of its phases, in addition to officials from the Ministry of Electricity and the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), in addition to the governor of Aswan and several national leaders in the village of Benban.
The solar energy projects are located on an area of 8,883.3 acres, according to Presidential decree No. 274 of 2014. The investments injected into the projects are estimated at EGP 40bn. These projects provide 20,000 job opportunities during the two-year construction period, providing 6,000 fixed jobs in companies permanently when the actual work of the project begin.
Meanwhile, it was agreed with the implementing companies to give priority to the citizens of the governorate in the general operation of the projects, with the priority given to the citizens of Benban in particular. Although workers in the project will be from the residents of Aswan, there will be the rare exception of hiring certain technical experts, such as individuals responsible for inspections, said Magdy Hegazy, governor of Aswan.
Hegazy added that he assigned a committee from the Manpower Directorate in the governorate to review the employment of the project and inspect the employees to ensure that they are from the governorate, while the executing companies conduct technical testing of these workers.
