The House of Representatives approved, in principle, the draft amendment to the provisions of Law No. 13 of 1976 on the establishment of an executive body to supervise the establishment of nuclear power plant projects. "The new project comes as a prelude to the launch of the Dabaa nuclear project and works to turn the Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA) into an economic agency that can invest, borrow, conclude agreements, and sell electricity generated from nuclear plants," said Hamada Ghalab, deputy chief of the Energy and Environment Committee of Parliament. He noted that the law will exempt imported and local equipment from taxes for the establishment of nuclear power plants. The draft law also exempts Egyptian construction companies from taxation on the construction of these stations, until they gain experience. Moreover, the law allows benefitting from foreign expertise, alongside Egyptian, in accordance with national security, allowing the proportion of electricity generated from these stations to reach 20% of the total electricity used in Egypt. The Secretary of the Energy and Environment Committee El Sayed Hegazy said that State Council had previously rejected the government's bill on establishing a body to supervise the implementation of nuclear power plants, especially with regard to overlap in jurisdiction between the body and the NPPA in the future. Sources at the Ministry of Electricity said that the amendment to the law is among the procedures required to help complete the signing of the Dabaa power plant contracts. The government plans to sign the Dabaa contracts with Russia next month in the presence of Presidents Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Vladimir Putin.
