CAIRO: Egyptian Electricity Minister Hassan Younis said a new contract was reached to add new electricity generation capacity of up to 1,180 megawatts with a value estimated at LE 3.8 billion ($650 million) as part of an emergency plan to meet the increasing electricity demands before the summer of 2012. In a statement, he said such capacities would be represented in adding four units in the Extra High Voltage Research Centre at Cairo-Alexandria Desert road as well as four other units with a capacity of 125 megawatts per each in west Damietta. Such units will be operational before the summer of 2012, he said. Other 12 units are currently under construction in two stations in El-Shabab and Damietta with a total capacity of 1,500 megawatts costing LE 6.200 billion and would be operational before summer of 2011. On the other hand, Younis said that a tender on the implementation of an Egyptian-Saudi power linkage line will be held at the end of the month. The ministry will invite companies for the project's tender at the end of April to receive technical and financial offers after three months. Younis said the linkage with Saudi Arabia is meant to exchange energy during high consumption times, at noon in Saudi Arabia and after sunset in Egypt. The holding electricity companies in Cairo and Riyadh will be in charge of the project. Meanwhile, the number of mobile phone subscriptions in Egypt grew to 71.5 million as of January, 28.03 percent up from a year earlier, according to government figures. Egypt's three mobile operators – Etisalat Egypt, Mobinil and Vodafone Egypt – had 55.848 million subscriptions in January 2010, the figures showed. Egypt is the Arab world's most populous country, with about 79 million people. Egypt's main index fell on security concerns Monday after violence at a soccer match, and Abu Dhabi's bourse slipped to a three-week low, as property stocks tumbled. The index fell 1.2 percent.
