Egypt invites tenders for nuclear power plant

A growing population in Egypt is expected to place larger demands on the country's power supply.

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Egypt is starting an international bidding process this year for its first nuclear energy plant, according to the country’s electricity and energy minister.

Hassan Younes told the stated-owned al-Ahram newspaper that the ministry had already invited several firms for consultancy and project briefings in preparation for the construction of the new energy plant.

Younes said,  "Egypt's nuclear project is progressing steadily and we expect to start the tender before the end of this year."

He added that among those invited to tender were the French nuclear reactor-maker Areva, and engineering group Alstom and Westinghouse Electric Co.

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The plans are in line with a wider strategy among Egyptian authorities to develop the country’s soft and hard infrastructure in order to attract foreign investors and prepare for quick population growth.

“Egypt needs to work hard on both development and infrastructure,” the Egyptian General Authority for Investment’s chairman, Osama Saleh told Construction Week.

“It would be very hard to attract foreign investors with an extreme deficiency in the infrastructure area.”

Egypt's population stands at 81 million which is growing by 1m per year - and the power projects are designed to cope with that growth and the anticpated extra demand placed on utilities.