National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr, Commercial Bank of Egypt (CIB), Arab African International Bank (AAIB) , QNB Al Ahli and Faisal Islamic bank agreed to allocate EGP1 billion from South Helwan Power Plant's loan which estimated at EGP3 billion in order to finance new power plant in Assiut. Egypt's Power Ministry requested earlier to reduce South Helwan's loan to EGP2 billion instead of EGP3 billion and to use the remaining EGP1 billion in launching new plant, according to official banking source of one of banks' credit sector. Speaking to Amwal Al Ghad, the source explained that Assiut's power plant project will contribute in meeting the growing demand for electric power, by increasing the capacity of about 650 MW. X-President Adly Mansour had previously issued decree over the approval of loan agreement between Egyptian government and Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) so as to contribute in financing Assiut's power plant project. The power plant will operate three natural gas-run steam turbines and will be connected to the national power grid to meet the rising demand for electricity, sources added. Furthermore, OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) has approved to offer US$ 50 million finance and Islamic Development Bank (IDB) also approved to offer an additional loan worth US$ 250 million to finance the power plant. The establishment cost of the South Helwan Power Plant is 13 billion.
