Nicosia, Jan 26: The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development has announced that it will lend 200 million dollars to the West Delta Electricity Company of Egypt for the construction of a new 1,300 mw power plant at Abu Qir near Alexandria.

The agreement for the first instalment of the loan amounting to 100 million dollars was signed by Marwan al-Ghanem, the Fund’s Regional Manager for Arab countries, and a representative of the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Energy.

The West Delta Electricity Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company, which is going to build the Abu Qir combined cycle power plant at a cost of about 1.6 billion dollars.

The project will also be financed by the Islamic Development Bank and the African Development Bank.

The World Bank and the European Investment Bank may also be involved in the financing of the new power plant.

The new Abu Qir power plant, will be built near the existing 900 mw power station, and will be equipped with two 650 mw steel gas turbine units. It will use natural gas as fuel. (ANI)