CAIRO, March 12. /TASS/. Cairo has referred to Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom a list of 20 companies that would be engaged in the construction of Egypt’s first nuclear plant at Al-Dabaa, Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plant Authority said on Sunday.
According to the Authority, Egypt’s share in the nuclear plant’s construction will amount to 20% It is planned to engage construction and electrical engineering companies, including Orascom Construction Industries, Petrojet and Arab Contractors.
Rosatom specialists will train the plant’s personnel. Construction works are planned to be launched before the yearend.
The Russian-Egyptian intergovernmental agreement on the construction of Egypt’s first nuclear power plant of four power units of 1,200 megawatt each was signed in November 2015 in Cairo. Apart from that, the sides inked an agreement on extending a government export loan of 25 billion U.S. dollars to Egypt that is to cover about 85% of construction costs. The Egyptian side is to raise the rest of the sum from private investors. The project is to be implemented within 12 years.
Egypt will start payments for the 3-percent loan in October 2029.
The nuclear plant will be built near the city of El Alamein some 3.5 kilometers off the Mediterranean coast. Construction works are supposed to give jobs to more than 20,000 people and when commissioned, the nuclear plant will employ some 4,000 people.
A contract for the plant’s construction is to be signed soon.