Renewable energy and energy projects conceived under public private partnerships (PPPs) were the subjects of the Egypt and Infrastructure Investment and Finance Summit 2013 held Tuesday in Cairo. The energy issue is of major importance for the Egyptian economy and while a potential source of crises it also offers a lot of opportunities. Atter Hanoura, director of PPP central unit at the Ministry of Finance exposed some of the PPP projects lined up in the ministry's agenda in the fields of recycling and water desalination beside the Railway line linking the10th of Ramadan city to Ain Shams. “Ten to 11 projects will be tendered out as PPPs this year, maybe not all of them will go to the market, there is a list of studies that must be done before approving a project as PPP,” said Hanoura, adding that PPPs are not based on direct orders from the government and are instead made on the basis of cost benefit analysis. Answering a question on the possibility of using Infrastructure bonds as a means to finance PPPs, Hanoura answered: “The private sector is responsible for financing PPPs, and there is no restrictions on the way it should get it, differentiating between PPPs and governmental financing." The business development director at Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), Tamer shafik spoke about the Kuraymat solar power plant, one of the PPPs projects in which OCI is involved, and what was achieved in the 32 months ending in 2011. He said his company was involved in Egypt's first PPP, the New Cairo wastewater treatment plant and the first independent power producer (IPP) project, the 2.250 mw power plant in Dairut. He said 60% of their projects are in the field of construction and 35% of their activities are located in Egypt. Mohamed Omran, the executive chairman of new and renewable energy authority at the Ministry of Energy and Electricity, gave the latest developments of the Dab'a nuclear plant project, saying: “The tender is ready and awaiting a political decision.” He then spoke about the newly established power plants intended to resolve Egypt's energy shortage, including the 2X650 mw plant in Ain Sokhna, the 750 mw power plant in Banha and the Guiza North 2.250 mw power plant. “An extra 31000 mw were garnered by the end of 2012,” said Omran, stating that the government plans to increase the percentage of renewable energy to 20% of total energy by 2020. Khalil Yasso, the chairman of the nuclear power plants authority (NPAA), said Egypt was one of the first countries to realise the importance of nuclear energy, but that the nuclear program stopped in 1986 after the Chernobyl disaster. He insisted that nuclear energy remains a strategic option because it has positive impact on national income in terms of employment, oil and gas consumption and the environment. Yasso revealed the government's future plans to build four nuclear plants in 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025 noting that modifications in the legal and institutional frameworks are required.
