Orascom Construction (OC) has completed the first phase of a power plant in the Upper Egyptian governorate Assiut; adding capacity of 375 megawatts (MW) to the nationwide electricity network, the company announced Thursday. OC started implementing the project in the 15th of December 2014 and finished the first phase after five and half months in cooperation with 5500 Egyptian workers and total working hours of 5.7 million. Orascom Construction is among a consortium that has signed two contracts to build two power plants in Assiut and West Damietta with capacity of 1000 megawatts (MW) and 500 megawatts (MW) respectively. The two power plants are set to deliver 625 megawatts (MW) to the national electricity network on July, 1, 2015. Orascom construction has finished part of the second phase of 6th of October city power plant in May 2015, with which 300 megawatts (MW) have been added to the national grid. Furthermore, Egypt has been suffering from an energy crunch on the back of growing arrears to foreign oil firms as political turmoil took hold in the aftermath of a popular uprising in 2011. Parts of the national grid are also in need of renovation. Moreover, Orascom Construction Limited, which was formed in November as a subsidiary of the Netherlands based OCI, invests in infrastructure projects, including a 2,000-3,000 MW coal fired power plant in Egypt.
