The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) is to postpone receiving offers on a tender it launched earlier that will see construction of an electricity interconnection line with Saudi Arabia.
A total of seven companies had been invited by the EETC to participate in the bidding process.
Sources from the EETC told Daily News Egypt that the delay, which is expected to last up to 40 days, is due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID0-19) outbreak.
This is the third postponement so far, as the offers had been received before from companies, but they were canceled, at the time, due to changes in the line course to implement the “NEOM” project in Saudi Arabia. Both technical and financial offers are expected from companies within two months maximum.
The sources explained that the list of companies that were invited are the same as those that participated in the previously cancelled tender. They include El Sewedy, State Grid, Kalpataru, Hyundai, NCC, L&T, and KEC.
EETC Head, Sabah Mashali, said in previous statements to Daily News Egypt that the current stage includes completing the tenders put forward to implement project tasks which were agreed upon separately. All contracts will be signed at the end of May 2020.
Sabah said that a consulting company was chosen to carry out the marine survey of the cables’ track for the electrical interconnection project between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, after modifying it to implement the “NEOM” project.
The consulting company determined, in a new marine survey, the point at which cables will descend based on a path Saudi Arabie sent to the EETC. The marine survey requires extensive security clearance and permits to ensure its passage through regional and international waters.
The total value of electrical interconnection investments between Egypt and Saudi Arabia stands at $1.6bn. The share on the Saudi side is $1bn, with each country bearing the value of the work done on its lands. The project aims to exchange 3GW, according to peak times in both countries.
Egypt had started negotiations with Saudi Arabia in 2010 to establish an energy exchange project between the two countries. However, the project was postponed on several occasions due to political events.
In 2014, the two countries completed negotiations for the project’s implementation, with tenders for lines, cables and transformers launched, with the support of the two countries’ political leadership.
