Egypt is set to secure a $100 million loan from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, funding a 1300 megawatt power plant, as Egypt pushes to boost energy output, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency (MENA) said on Friday. Egypt, the most populous Arab country, has capacity of about 25,000 megawatts, and around 99.1 per cent of its population has access to electricity. "This plant is one of the projects falling under the 2007-2012 scheme to add 9,200 megawatts to help meet growing demand for energy in the country," Electricity and Energy Minister Hassan Younes was quoted as saying. Egypt aims to more than triple its installed power capacity by 2027 by adding a total of 58,000 megawatts at a cost of about $100 billion to $120 billion. The plant, to be built in the Red Sea coastal town of Ain Sokhna, east of Cairo, consists of two steam units with each having a 650 megawatt capacity. "The plant will allow us to meet electricity needs as well as reducing fossil fuel use and subsequent emissions. This is considered environmentally friendly technology," Electricity and Energy Minister Hassan Younes was quoted as saying. "The total cost of this project will come to about 9.5 billion Egyptian pounds. The first unit will come on stream in July 2013, with the second following in October of the same year," Younes added. The African Development Bank, the World Bank and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development will also participate in the project, while the remaining costs will be funded by the state-owned West Delta Electricity company, Younes said. He did not mention further details on how such funding would be broken down.
