The World Bank has approved a $240 million loan to Egypt for help finance the country's Giza North power project, the global financial body said on Tuesday.
The North Giza project, first announced in 2010, involves the building of a 1,500-MW combined cycle gas turbine power plant in a district to the west of the capital, Cairo.
The World Bank said its latest assistance was part of a broader programme to help Egypt meet its growing demand for electicity with a reliable and efficient power supply.
The plant is the most effective way to bridge a looming gap in power supplies and serve more than five million households, it added.
In the last few years, the World Bank has developed a series of partnerships with Egypt’s energy sector through financing projects in renewable and natural gas-based conventional technologies.
In 2007, the Board approved the Global Environment Facility (GEF)-financed solar-thermal El-Kureimat power project – recently fully commissioned -- which included the first concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in Egypt and one of the first integrated solar-thermal power projects in the world.
The World Bank said in February that Egypt has asked for a $1 billion loan and it will launch talks with government representatives to iron out the details.
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