Abu Dhabi: Orascom Construction (OC) and Abu Dhabi-based International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) consortium signed a development agreement as an addition to their existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was previously signed with the Egyptian government in November last year.
The company said this agreement marks a significant step in the development of the 3,000MW coal-fired power plant in Egypt and highlights the parties’ commitment to execute the project on a fast-track basis.
The investment cost of the first of two phases of the project is expected to amount to approximately $3 billion.
Funding will be made up of a mixture of debt and sponsor equity. The debt is planned to be sourced from a variety of liquidity pools including Egyptian, GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) and international financial institutions as well as export credit agencies.
The OC-IPIC consortium has received letters of interest from banks to underwrite the debt portion for up to $1.95 billion (Dh7.16 billion), the company said.
National Bank of Abu Dhabi will be acting as the project’s co-financial adviser and will be supporting the project as part of the Banking Consortium
The MoU signed in November had granted the OC-IPIC consortium an 18-month exclusivity period over a project site in the vicinity of El Hamrawein Port on the Red Sea coast. Under the development agreement, the consortium now has been guaranteed site access to carry out necessary development studies while land allocation formalities are being finalised.
The agreement coincides with a major economic conference in Egypt that ended on Sunday.
