Egypt has signed two contracts worth a total of 530 million Egyptian pounds to carry out work at its Abu Qir power station, the daily al-Alam al-Youm reported on Monday. The plant is part of the country's 2007-2012 five-year energy plan, which aims to add 9,200 megawatts to its capacity, set up transformer stations and extend power lines. The total cost of the plant has been estimated at 9.3 billion pounds. The Abu Qir station consists of two steam units with a total capacity of 1,300 megawatts, one of which will begin operating in April 2012, and the second in August that year, the paper quoted Egypt's Electricity and Energy Minister Hassan Younes as saying. The two contracts, signed on Sunday, are for mechanical, pipe installment and water treatment work at the station, the report said. Younes has said Egypt aims to more than triple its installed power capacity by 2027 by adding 58,000 megawatts at a cost of about $100 to $120 billion.
