Cairo - Mubasher: The Egyptian ministry of electricity has announced modifying the time schedule for the power networking programme with Saudi Arabia.
Operating will now begin in 2022, instead of in 2020, as Saudi authorities are changing grid lines to accommodate the futuristic mega city of NEOM.
Although the project’s contract was supposed to be awarded back in January, and then in June, delays were asked for by the Saudi side.
Six international companies are competing for the deal, including ABB-Egypt, General Electric (GE), Siemens, Alstom, and China’s State Grid.
Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the chairman of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), announced back in October a plan to build a $500 billion city in the north west of the kingdom.
The project known as NEOM will be a business and industrial zone that also links with Jordan and Egypt, and it represents the biggest effort by the kingdom to reduce its dependence on oil exports.
With a total are of 26,500 square kilometres, NEOM will focus on industries including energy and water, biotechnology, food, advanced manufacturing and entertainment.
The megaproject was launched during the Future Investment Initiative Conference in Riyadh.
NEOM will have a strategic location, adjacent to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, and near maritime trade routes that use the Suez Canal, which will facilitate the zone’s rapid emergence as a global hub that connects Asia, Europe and Africa, and it will be solely use wind power and solar energy, and its first phase is expected be complete by 2025.
