The Upper Egypt Electricity Production Company (UEEPC) has signed a contract loan with the Egyptian Gulf Bank (EGBank) over EGP 2bn to finance a maintenance programme and update the stations affiliated to the company. Ibrahim El Shahat, chairperson of the UEEPC, said that the loan will be paid over the period of 11 years with a grace period of 4 years. According to the agreement, the loan includes providing foreign currencies, including dollars, euros, and yens. The first tranche of the loan will be provided this week. It is estimated at $50m, while the provision of the remaining amount will take place according to a schedule based on the company's financial commitments. El Shahat explained that his company will pay its dues to the companies working in the maintenance and modernisation of UEEPC's stations. The stations include Korimat Complex station: Korimat 1, 2, and 3, with total capacities of 2,127 MW. Among the foreign companies that have implemented the maintenance works are Siemens, General Electric (GE), Sumitomo, and Hadon. He said that these companies have implemented changes and updates based on the condition of the production units and the turbines. The changes are considered large after units have worked for over 36,000 hours, average if they have worked for around 24,000 hours, and simple if they have worked for 8,000 hours. He pointed out that the Ministry of Electricity has developed a replacement and maintenance plan for current stations to decrease fuel consumption and raise efficiency, instead of building new stations. The plan suggests applying modern technology in the stations to work through a combined cycle system to reduce fuel consumption. He added that the Ministry of Electricity is still preparing a plan to raise the efficiency of power plants, add new capacities, and develop electricity transmission networks to absorb the new capacities expected for the next summer. The Ministry of Electricity has allocated EGP 11bn for the operation and maintenance of power plants as well as the transmission networks in this year. According to the Ministry of Electricity, the costs of operation and maintenance of power plants are secured through the collection of electricity consumption bills, amounting to EGP 7bn. On the other hand, the Ministry of Electricity seeks to obtain a loan of EGP 37bn to modernise and develop the transmission and distribution networks.
