CAIRO: The Egyptian government has given the go-ahead for the construction of the country's first thermal station for producing electricity, according to the Build, Own, Operate (BOO) system in Dairut city of the Beheira governorate. The Egyptian ministry of electricity and energy announced it would next month send a manual of bid requirements to 10 companies that met the qualifications for the tender. Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Energy Hassan Younis said in a statement on Thursday that the qualified firms were shortlisted from total 19 firms and consortiums “that made applications for the bid.” He added that these qualified firms are “expected to submit their bids for constructing the power station in preparation for analyzing and choosing the best from among them.” Younis pointed out that the bid includes the establishment of Dairut thermal power plant in Beheira governorate depending on a compound process fuel cycle of natural gas and diesel to serve two units with a capacity of 750 megawatt for each one of them and an availability for installing a third unit. He also said Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) will be committed to buying the energy produced by the would-be station for twenty years along with transmitting it to electric distribution networks in order to be sold to consumers at affordable prices approved by the Egyptian cabinet. “it is planned for this station to be commercially operated as of October 2013 within a comprehensive program carried out by the electricity sector with the aim of attracting local and foreign investment,” said the minister. “This program aims at securing the electricity supplies for all development projects all over the country and catching up with the increasing demand for electric power,” he added. Younis also said the ministry plans to invite the private sector companies for bids related to the projects in the five-year plan including the power plants of West Dairut with a capacity of two units with 750 megawatt for each unit and El-Ayat steam power plant with a capacity of three units with 1300 megawatt for each unit, besides two steam power plants in Qena and Safaga with a capacity of 1300 mega watt for each unit. BM
