The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE) has designated 14 consortia and three companies to bid for the construction of new seawater desalination plants in Egypt. The future plants will increase Egypt's water supply from desalination by 8.85 million m3 per day by 2050.
Egypt will build new seawater desalination plants to enhance water supply to the population. The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE), placed under the supervision of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, has just preselected 14 consortiums and three companies, authorised to bid for the related call for tenders, which will be launched soon in the country of the pharaohs.
The consortia and companies have been classified by category. Category A includes Acwa Power, Sumitomo Corporation and Sacyr Agua, as well as the consortia (Enertech Holding Co, Utico FZC, SEPCO), (Concrete Plus, Abengoa, Cuasar), (Infinity Energy, GS Inima, China Energy Engineering Corporation), (AEW, Gama, Sogex, Wabag), (TAM Environmental Services, Desalia SL, Al Ahly Capital), (Orascom Construction, Scatec, Toyota Tsusho Corp, Acciona Agua, Metito Utilities), (Hassan Allam Holding, Engie) and (Meridiam Infrastructure Africa Fund II, Suez International, Elsewedy Electric). The ultimate goal is to increase Egypt’s seawater desalination capacity by 1 million m3 per day.
A total capacity of 8.85 million m3 per day by 2050
The consortiums (Amea Power, Safbon, ICAT), (Aqualia, Globaleq, Ignis, Samcrete), (Taqa Arabia, Al Ghanem International), (Beijing Enterprises Water Group, Asia-Africa Green Energy Investment) are in category B of the notice of pre-qualifications and will provide an additional 600,000 m3 of water per day in Egypt, based on desalination.
The last two shortlisted consortia (Sinohydro Hong Kong Holding, Qingdao Desalination, SEPCO III Electric Power) and (Desal Egypt, Emco Engineering, Amarenco Solarize Egypt, Redcon Construction) have been placed in categories C and D respectively for projects with combined capacities of between 200,000 and 400,000 m3 per day.
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These seawater desalination plants will be built in several phases. The first phase of the project, which will run until 2025, will provide 3.35 million m3 of desalinated water to the population. This will be followed by the second phase, which will increase the production capacity of all the plants in Egypt to 8.85 million m3. The plants will be powered by renewable energy. The use of clean energy for desalination should make it possible to reduce the carbon footprint of these energy-intensive installations.
In addition to the supply of drinking water, the new plants will improve the supply of water to farmers, who have also been affected by the drought, resulting in reduced agricultural yields. Currently, the North African country has 70 seawater desalination plants with a combined capacity of 1.3 million m3 per day according to the TSFE.
Inès Magoum
