The Egyptian government is considering three bids from international companies to implement joint water desalination projects with a total capacity of 300,000 cubic metres per day (scm/day).
Government sources told Daily News Egypt that the bids for the establishment of desalination plants vary in capacity between 100-150 scm/day per plant. The sources revealed that the companies will secure the required funding for the projects and sell the desalinated water to the government for 20 years.
Informed sources told Daily News Egypt that the bids received by the government set the price of desalinated water at EGP 10-15 per scm.
Last year, the government received an offer from the US company Seven Seas Water to establish desalination plants with a capacity of 300,000 scm/day.
The American company offered to sell desalinated water at EGP 17 per scm, but the government rejected the offer.
The sources pointed out that the government decided to offer competitive tenders to Arab and international companies to implement seawater desalination plants according to the government’s strategy, aiming to produce 2.7m scm/day by 2035.
Furthermore, the sources said that the list of companies that are interested in establishing water desalination plants in Egypt include El Sewedy Electric, Hassan Allam-Abdul Latif Jameel consortium, Aqualia, and Metito.
Egypt currently has 63 water desalination plants in the governorates of North Sinai, Marsa Matrouh, Red Sea, and South Sinai, producing 700,000 scm/day. With an additional 19 desalination plants being implemented with a capacity of 400,000 scm/day.
Egypt plans to launch 21 desalination plants before the end of 2022 to bring the total desalinated water in Egypt to 2.5m scm/day. The country has a plan to expand in the establishment of desalination plants to solve the water deficit and reduce the cost of transporting Nile water to the border governorates.
