Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker said the government is mulling a change in price of electricity at peak time, after ratifying the new tariff, declared in June, over five years until 2019, as the subsidy will be gradually removed.
During a forum called “Chances of investment in different fields of energy in Egypt” held in Beijing from 8 to 12 December, Shaker said a smart electricity meters project is being prepared in partnership with public and private sectors. The project targets the replacement of 30 million mechanic meters with smart ones in 10 years at an investment of around LE40 billion to improve the capacity of electric network.
The minister called on Chinese companies to invest in Egypt highlighting the strong bilateral ties through joint strategic and economic ties based on the mutual advantage in all fields.
The government, according to Shaker, set necessary legislation to allocate lands for carrying out the projects. The government has allocated 7742 square kilometers for the projects through a usufruct. The new electricity law is scheduled to be adopted before the economic summit slated for March 2015, he added.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
