WASHINGTON, June 8, 2010 – The World Bank’s Board of ExecutiveDirectors today approved a loan in the amount of $ 600 million for Egypt tosupport Giza North Power Project.
The project will supportthe Government of Egypt’s power sector investment plan to meet the growingelectricity demand in the country and ensure access to reliable supply of power– all prerequisites for sustained economic growth and achieving the country’ssocial development agenda.
The project developmentobjective is to contribute to improving the security and efficiency ofelectricity supply by adding a new generation capacity based on the mostefficient thermal power generation technology. The project comprises development andconstruction of a 1,500-MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant atGiza North near Cairo. The plant will usenatural gas as the main fuel and light diesel oil as a back-up. The plant willbe owned and operated by the Cairo Electricity Production Company (CEPC), asubsidiary of Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC).
“We are pleased tobecome an important development partner in Egypt’s energy sector and contributeto the country’s power sector development, thus, supporting economic growth andsocial development,” said A. DavidCraig, Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti.
“The World Bank’ssupport to the energy sector in Egypt is in line with the Bank’s CountryAssistance Strategy which emphasizes the provision of public goods throughmodernized infrastructure services to achieve sustainable growth,” he added.
“The Giza North powerplant is a high priority investment as the existing fleet of generation plantsis insufficient to maintain reliable supply of power to the growing economy,” said Vladislav Vucetic,the World Bank's Task Team Leader.
“The plant will usenatural gas as the principal fuel in CCGT technology, which is both technicallyand environmentally most-efficient fossil-fuel electricity generationtechnology,” he added.
Over the last severalyears the World Bank became an important development partner in Egypt’s energysector through financing projects in traditional and renewable energy, and gasdistribution. In 2006, the Board approved El-Tebbin power project and one yearlater the Board approved the GEF-financed solar-thermal El-Kureimat powerproject which included the first concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in Egyptand one of the first integrated solar-thermal power projects in the world.
In the gas sector, aproject was approved in 2008 to assist in the expansion of natural gasdistribution infrastructure to support the government’s fuel switching strategyinto natural gas, especially for residential consumption. In January 2009, theBank approved an investment loan for the Ain Sokhna Power Project, which isbased on a more efficient supercritical steam technology, the first power plantof this type in Egypt. All the projects are being successfully implemented.
The World Bank iscurrently involved in assisting the Government of Egypt to attract privateinvestment in traditional and renewable power generation technologies and toimplement the country’s ambitious program for scaling up development of thewind and solar power plants.
