Dubai–Egypt may have to extend bid submission deadlines for four infrastructure projects worth 15 billion pounds under its public private partnership (PPP) program, an official said on Tuesday.
"We are still working on (the) process of tendering but the bid submission deadline needs to be discussed with the prime minister," Rania Zayed, senior advisor to the Ministry of Finance and director for the public private partnership central unit, said.
The official was speaking on the sidelines of the Middle East Project Finance conference organized by London-based MEED in Duabi.
The four projects relate to the construction of roads, hospitals and water sewage plants in the North African country, the official said.
The bid submission deadline for the hospitals project is March, for roads the deadline expires in May and water sewage plant projects have an August deadline, the official said.
"These are high priority projects and I am scared to lose pre-qualified bidders," Zayed told reporters.
A committee formed to discuss public private partnership projects in the country will meet with the prime minister to discuss the projects, she said.
Political turmoil in Egypt this year which led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak has threatened to derail the region's economic and investment prospects. Egypt's stock market has been closed for more than a month and its planned reopening on Tuesday was delayed to Sunday.
