Egypt Prequalifies 17 Consortia for its Water Desalination Program

The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (“TSFE”), with technical assistance from the Ministry of Finance’s PPP Central Unit, has prequalified 17 consortia to be invited to the tendering process of the development of a number of seawater desalination plants powered by renewable energy sources in different locations across Egypt under the First Phase of Egypt’s water desalination program.

Prequalified consortia are classified into four categories based on previous experience in various desalination projects regionally & globally (a list of prequalified consortiums is included at the end of this release).

Egypt’s water desalination program entails the launch of several projects covering a total planned capacity of 8.85 million m3/day by 2050 of which 3.35 million m3/day is planned by 2025 as the (“First Phase”). The program aims to attracting foreign and local strategic investors with the key objectives of developing, constructing & operating the plants while powering them using renewable energy sources and aiming to transfer technology and localize the manufacturing of crucial desalination components.

The First Phase involves a number of stakeholders, including entities falling under the auspices of the Ministry of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities such as the New and Urban Communities Authority and/or the Holding Company for Water and Wastewater, in addition to Suez Canal Authority who shall act as the off-taker for projects falling within their geographical mandate.

TSFE is part of a special committee formed through a decree issued by the Prime Minister of Egypt, comprised of the various stakeholders in Egypt’s water desalination program. The committee oversees the whole pre-qualification and the tender processes to ensure process progression at a fast pace through public tenders in light of private sector and financing institutions' expectations. TSFE has been mandated by the committee to manage the offering process for the First Phase including undertaking the procedures to prequalify companies interested in submitting proposals for developing seawater desalination plants under the First Phase. This comes as part of TSFE’s efforts to structure investable transactions for the private sector where TSFE would invest in the projects alongside the private sector whilst working actively on realizing Egypt’s ambitions in the sector.

To this end, TSFE has retained the services of The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to support in structuring and implementing the first batch of water desalination projects in partnership with the private sector, which entails retaining technical and legal consultants, as well as running necessary environmental and social impact assessments studies in order to bring to the market a solid investment product.