Government reviews 3 scenarios to sign Dabaa nuclear plant contract

Partial signing at end of the year, postponement to March, or cancellation of project

The government is reviewing three scenarios for the signing of the Dabaa nuclear power plant contracts executed by Rosatom with funding from Russia.
Government sources told Daily News Egypt that the first scenario is a partial signing of the contracts before the end of the year, leaving the remaining parts to be signed within three months.
The second scenario involves the postponement of the entire agreement to March, then presenting the agreements to the State Council for revision.
The commercial contract between Egypt and Russia to establish, supply, and operate the Dabaa nuclear plant includes four agreements: the main establishment, fuel supply, technical support during operation, and establishing storage for consumer fuel.
The third scenario, which the source described as "highly unlikable", is postponing the signing of the contracts indefinitely or even cancelling them. He said that cancelling the contracts is not likely to happen as Egypt already included the expected energy output of the plant in its strategy of diversifying energy sources.
Egypt signed an agreement with Russia to establish a nuclear power plant in Dabaa with a capacity of 4,800 MW for $30bn.
Russia will provide a governmental loan to Egypt worth $25bn.
The loan is used to finance 85% of the value of each contract to implement works, services, and shipments of the project. The Egyptian side will pay the remaining amount representing 15% in the form of instalments. The amount will be paid for the benefit of the authorised Russian institutions in a way that suits the contracts, in the form of an advance or any payment that is made later after implementing works and services and delivering supplies. The term of the loan is 13 years over the period from 2016 until 2028, with a 3% annual interest rate.
Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker said that negotiations with Russia are in their final stages.
He noted that the promotion campaign is set to begin in April, along with training 1,711 technicians to work at the station.
The sources said that although negotiations are approaching a final result, some terms are still debated, including providing the banking guarantees and insurance packages.
He added that not agreeing on these items will cause huge losses and may lead to international arbitration.
The source pointed out that there are contracts that have not been presented to the parliament, nor reviewed by the State Council.
El-Sayed Hegazy, a member of the parliament's Energy Committee, said that the Dabaa agreement has not yet been reviewed by the parliament. The topic is not on the agenda for discussions in January either, he added.
He pointed out that the parliament will not stand in the way of any agreements related to national projects, including the Dabaa project.